Revealing The Mystery
by Litta
Summary: A number of orphans with special abilities interact with a few Final Fantasy characters, and get into some interesting situations...
1. Character Intro

**Character Name:** Rystan

**Age:** 16

**Ability:** Teleports objects, herself, or other people to other places

**Height:** 5'7"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** She has medium brown hair that falls to about the middle of her upper torso. She usually wears it down, except at school she puts it up in either a pony tail or messy bun. She has deep blue eyes, which sometimes look purple in the right light.

**Appearance:** She is average build, not too skinny or fat, and is in good shape due to her fighting and weapons training class. She wears blue jeans, a green shirt with sleeves that barely cover her shoulders, and a tan trench coat that reaches to her knees. She wears black boots that zip up to the middle of her shin, beneath her jeans. She always wears a simple gold chain with a triangle locket attached, a bracelet of black pearls on her left wrist, and a watch on her right wrist.

**Personality:** She hates to be humiliated or made fun of. She always speaks her mind, and loves having fun with her friends. She avoids getting too close to anyone besides her friends because she's afraid of what people will say when they find out about her unique ability. She also loves getting into arguments and fights, especially with her friend Kyrton.

**Weapons:** She mostly relies on her fists for weapons, since that's what she's best with. She wears gloves with the fingertips cut off to hide the bruises on her knuckles from fighting. If she's not using her fists, she likes to use a sword that she can hide under her trench coat. The sword is almost two feet long, two-and-a-half inches wide, with a grip made for one hand.

**History:** She's been living at the orphanage ever since she can remember. She attends the Academy for Young Intelligence (A.Y.I.), along with all the other orphans old enough. She grew up with a small group of friends through the years, and all of them are very close to one another. Xander was the first friend she made, so she's closest to him. She discovered her power when she was ten. She had been in an argument with Kyrton when he suddenly found himself in another room. She learned how to control her power after that, but continues to hide it.

**Favorite Quote:** "No one can know about my powers...so stay away from me!"

**Personal Quote:** "Kyrton, if you don't put me down, you'll find yourself on another continent!"

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Ms. Paleit - Algebra III Honors_

_2nd hour: Ms. Lawanya - Ancient History_

_3rd hour: Mr. Ketting - Advanced Chemistry_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Mr. Vahn - English III Honors_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Kyrton**

**Age:** 18

**Ability:** Levitates people or objects off the ground, and learning how to fly

**Height:** 6'0"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** He has dark brown hair that's cropped very short. He spikes his hair using gel, and the spikes measure around half an inch. He has warm, brown eyes, with small gold specks scattered throughout.

**Appearance:** He wears tan cargo pants that zip off into shorts and holds them up with a leather belt, and a brown t-shirt that hangs a little loose on his lean frame. He wears his watch on his left arm and wears a pair of old running shoes. He also has a few scattered freckles on his face, and he wears his watch on his left hand.

**Personality:** He loves to joke around with his friends. He enjoys a good practical joke, and can always be talked into one. He can also be a caring person when he needs to be. He always loves giving Rystan a hard time. He keeps his ability hidden, but tends to be a little careless.

**Weapons:** He likes to rely on levitating his opponent and dropping them on the ground, but he can't always use his power. When he's at school or somewhere where he can't use his ability, he uses a sword. It's about three feet long and almost a foot wide at the base, though it gradually comes to a point. The handle is big enough for two hands, but can just as easily be held by one hand. The sword is sharp on both edges, and at the top, there is a little hook. He uses the hook to inflict more pain on his opponent.

**History:** When he was around seven years old his parents died in a plane crash. With no living relatives to take him in, he was sent to the orphanage. He started noticing his power when he had been at the orphanage for one year. He was only able to levitate objects when he was angry at first, but eventually he learned to control his power. He has been trying to learn to fly ever since then. He made friends with some of the other kids, quickly becoming friends with Grim, but doesn't get along as well with Attlin. He's usually able to tolerate him, but there's always a little tension between the two.

**Favorite Quote:** "Let me alone or you'll get your world turned upside down!"

**Personal Quote:** "If I can't succeed, I still refuse to fail."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Hilske - Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry_

_2nd hour: Mr. Ediel - Psychology_

_3rd hour: Ms. Drisim - Advanced Physics_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Mr. Plasky - Humanities_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Eline**

**Age:** 15

**Ability:** Senses if people are in trouble nearby by a sudden sense of danger and when her hands start shaking

**Height:** 5'4"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** Her hair is cut short, layered, and angled around her face. Her hair is light brown with blonde streaks. Her eyes are naturally light brown, but often appear red due to light.

**Appearance:** She's on the skinny side, with not as much muscle as Rystan, but she's not to be underestimated either. She wears black pants that flare at the bottom, with chains and zipper pockets. She also wears a red t-shirt that brings out the red hues in her eyes. She has a black overcoat, but only wears it around the orphanage. She wears a choker around her neck with small chains hanging in the front, rose shaped earrings, and a thick, black, leather bracelet with the letter E imprinted on it on her left wrist.

**Personality:** She can seem a bit insensitive at times because she doesn't talk much to people she doesn't know. She generally sticks to talking with her friends at the orphanage. She gets into a lot of fights with her friend Grim, because he always knows when she's lying. She hates telling people if anything's wrong, but loves helping people with their problems. She especially enjoys telling people what their problems are.

**Weapons:** She uses two guns: one pistol and the other a silencer. She keeps the pistol inside her coat, for easy access, and the silencer hidden somewhere else for emergencies. She sometimes hides a few other things inside her coat as well, such as an occasional knife.

**History:** She lived with her aunt in an apartment until she was five. One day when she was outside playing, the apartment complex caught fire. Her aunt was trapped inside and never made it out. She had one living relative, an uncle, but he wouldn't take her. He sent her to the orphanage. She found her first friend in Rystan, and only occasionally gets into fights with her. She also thinks of Preston as her older brother.

**Favorite Quote:** "The next time your in trouble, I'll ignore the signs!"

**Personal Quote:** "It's not me, it's you. Trust me on that."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Ms. Paleit - Algebra III Honors_

_2nd hour: Ms. Lawanya - Ancient History_

_3rd hour: Mr. Ediel - Biology_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Mr. Quimber - English III_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Grim (nickname)**

**Age:** 17

**Ability:** Knows if a person is lying or not, and will soon discover the ability to become invisible and make other things invisible

**Height:** 5'11"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** He has short blonde hair that he spikes in the front, but everything else he lets fall however it falls. He has faded blue eyes that have just a touch of green around the edges.

**Appearance:** He's of average build, without much to show for muscle. He wears blue jeans that have a tear on the right knee, a brown, plaid dress shirt that's never buttoned, and a white undershirt showing beneath the dress shirt. He also has his left ear pierced.

**Personality:** He loves to play practical jokes and tease Eline. He enjoys having fun and always tries to have a good time wherever he is. He can be serious though, depending on the circumstances. He won't let his friends get hurt, but if they do he always gets back at the person who hurt them. He's a very loyal friend.

**Weapons:** He is very accurate when it comes to throwing daggers. He prefers using daggers so he doesn't have to get too close to his opponent. The daggers range from a few inches long to almost a foot long, but all are between one and two inches in width. For target practice he uses the people that get on his nerves, though many times he just resorts to using Eline.

**History: **He never knew his parents, but lived with his adoptive parents. They were killed in a drive by shooting when he was six, and he ended up in the hospital for a couple of weeks. When he left, he was sent to the orphanage. He made friends with Eline quickly, and still remains close to her. He hates his name, so he has never told anyone what it is. His friends ended up calling him "Grim" because they thought he was a little negative sometimes. That's all they ever call him now.

**Favorite Quote:** "I promise I won't hurt you...much."

**Personal Quote:** "You can't fool me. No one can. You can try if you want, but I can see right through you."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Hilske - Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry_

_2nd hour: Mr. Ediel - Psychology_

_3rd hour: Ms. Joade - Chemistry_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Mr. Plasky - Humanities_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Xander**

**Age:** 18

**Ability:** Able to read minds at will

**Height:** 6'0"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** His hair is black and cut short, but he has some longer bangs that sometimes still fall in his face. His eyes are light green around the edge, but get darker towards the center.

**Appearance:** He appears to be very small and lightweight, but he has some hidden muscle when he needs it. He wears tan shorts that reach just below his knees and a long-sleeve, dark green shirt. He often has his hands in his pockets, and his sleeves are usually down. If his sleeves are pushed up, he may have been in a fight or had to stop a fight between other people.

**Personality:** He is sometimes overly concerned for Rystan, but he still likes to kid around with everyone and have a good time. He is the second oldest of the group of friends, and one of the most responsible, so he is sometimes looked to as a leader. He is often second in command to Preston, who is also his closest friend. He tries to keep the others out of trouble with other people or with themselves

**Weapons:** He uses a three-pronged whip. It starts out at the beginning as one thick strand, made of three strands woven together, but it ends up splitting into the three separate strands. Each strand has a thorn at the end, sown right into the strand, practically invisible to anyone that doesn't already know it's there. He uses it to grab things, such as a weapon from an opponent, and bring it to him, or as a weapon to inflict damage by striking it against his opponent. Since he doesn't use it as a weapon at the orphanage, he doesn't have to hide it like the others' weapons.

**History:** His mother worked all the time, and his father was an alcoholic. He had a rough childhood. When his father died, his mother couldn't take it and committed suicide. His grandparents couldn't take him so he was sent to the orphanage when he was six, so he met Rystan when she was three. It's because he was Rystan's first friend that he treats her the way he does.

**Favorite Quote: **"Are you going to tell me willingly or shall I read your mind for you?"

**Personal Quote:** "Leave her alone or you'll have to deal with me."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Sikom - Calculus_

_2nd hour: Mr. Cidowsky - Government and Economy_

_3rd hour: Mr. Aidler - Human Physiology_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Ms. Heily - Literature Analysis_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Preston**

**Age:** 19

**Ability:** Able to see for around five miles at will

**Height:** 6'1"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** He has sandy brown hair that's kept in a crew cut with the exception of a small braid at the base of his head. His eyes are a brownish-gold, chestnut color.

**Appearance:** The fact that he is very muscular is quite obvious. His muscles can be seen on his arms, legs, and anywhere else. He wears loose black pants that have an extra pair of pockets, one on each pant leg by the knee. Above that he wears a blue t-shirt. He always has on a silver chain with a silver hawk attached by its wings that are spread out as if flying.

**Personality:** He sometimes gets angry with Grim for the way he acts around Eline. He stands up for Eline when she's having a bad day, and makes her tell him if something's wrong. He occasionally helps out if a prank is being pulled, but is the last to get in trouble for it. He likes having a good time, but knows when to quit. He is usually looked to as the leader if one is needed. He tries to be a friend to everyone, and hates choosing sides.

**Weapons:** He uses a form of a mace for his weapon. Instead of a metal ball with spikes on the end, it has a plain looking ball made of glass. When the glass hits its target, it shatters into whatever it hit. It causes a lot of damage, but every piece is attached to the center of the original ball with an extremely thin string. When he jerks the stick back after the explosion, all the pieces fly back with it and put themselves back together, reforming the ball. Holding the handle on the end, he swings it quickly and with precision. Usually his opponent can't tell which direction he is going to attack from, giving him the element of surprise. He loves the amount of damage such a small and seemingly harmless weapon can do.

**History:** When he was nine, his parents went on vacation. They took a trip on a cruise ship, leaving him with his cousin. The ship sank on its way home. He tried to stay with his cousin, but his cousin wouldn't take care of him. He was sent to the orphanage at ten, where he met all his friends. He gets along best with Xander, and treats Eline like a little sister. He wants to be there for her the way his cousin wasn't for him.

**Favorite Quote:** "I can't see into the future, but I can still see better than you."

**Personal Quote:** "I don't get revenge, I get even."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Fedler - Calculus Honors_

_2nd hour: Mr. Cidowsky - Government and Economy_

_3rd hour: Mr. Aidler - Human Physiology_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Ms. Heily - Literature Analysis_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Attlin**

**Age:** 17

**Ability:** Superior knowledge in any area concerning computers or technology

**Height:** 5'9"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** He has black hair that is cut short all over; meaning nowhere on his head is there a piece of hair longer than an inch long. His eyes are hazel, but appear gray when he's concentrating really hard.

**Appearance:** He looks very lean and scrawny. He is somewhat fit, but is still really skinny. He wears loose blue jean pants, and a plain gray polo shirt. Has a silver ring he wears on his right ring finger that belonged to his father. It has a red stone in the center with his father's name engraved inside the stone.

**Personality:** He's the quietest one of the whole group. He only gives his opinions when he is asked to, and doesn't ask very many questions. He keeps to himself a lot, but still enjoys being around everyone else. He gets along best with Rystan, which sometimes causes problems with Kyrton. He is very responsible and wouldn't be caught dead helping out with any of the pranks that go on, though he avoids exposing his friends if he can. Due to his small size, he gets picked on by others every so often. He rarely, if ever, fights back, and he tries to avoid confrontation.

**Weapons:** He uses only one weapon. It looks like a smooth, plain stick that's almost as big as him. Throughout the center of the stick, running the entire length, is a bar of steel that keeps the stick from being cut in half. With the steel center, it does a lot more damage than it looks like it can do, and is also heavier than it looks.

**History:** His mother died in child birth, so he grew up with his father. His father worked for the government, so he was gone a lot on trips. Attlin raised himself most of the time, so he always looked forward to the times when his father was home. On one of the trips, his father was caught and tortured to death. When he was told, he received his father's ring. That is why he wears the ring all the time, to remember his father. He had no relatives that anyone was aware of, so he came to the orphanage at age eight. He made friends slowly, but the ones he has he stays close to.

**Favorite Quote:** "I may be smart, but I am also wise."

**Personal Quote:** "You say you are my friend, but yet you have turned your back on me. You say you will never leave me, and yet you have not returned. I say I am your friend, and still I am loyal to you."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Fedler - Calculus Honors_

_2nd hour: Mr. Maige - Advanced Computer Programming_

_3rd hour: Mr. Daukie - Science Research_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Ms. Berick - Technological Developments_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_

**

* * *

Character Name: Travis**

**Age:** 18

**Ability:** Controls electricity by concentrating and causing small explosions or energy bursts from nearby electrical appliances

**Height:** 5'10"

**Hair/Eye Color/Description:** His hair is light blonde and looks a little shaggy. The tips of his hair are dyed orange. His eyes are naturally a dark yellow, but he tells people it's because of his contacts, though he doesn't actually wear contacts.

**Appearance: **He is of average build, only slightly less muscular than Preston. He wears a white button down shirt with thin, orange, vertical stripes. His top button is always undone, and sometimes the second one as well. The sleeves are unbuttoned and rolled up once or twice. He also wears faded blue jeans that have been very broken in over a number of years and flip flops to be comfortable, but changes into shoes for school.

**Personality:** Travis is loud right from the start. He's usually the first person you notice, or hear, when you enter a room. He has no problem starting conversations and keeping them going. He's pretty funny, but can get a little perverted sometimes depending on who he's with. He slacks off on his homework but still manages to pass every class just fine. When he's not joking around he can be serious. He is great friends with everyone, but especially Grim which is why he often likes to give Grim a hard time. He can also be caught sometimes looking out for Eline.

**Weapons:** He takes pleasure in using ninja stars. He holds them in his hand and with a flick of the wrist can send them flying in any direction. He almost always hits what he's aiming for, and he knows where to aim to inflict the most pain. His ninja stars have the Japanese symbol for strength engraved on each one.

**History:** He never knew his father because his mother was raped and became pregnant. She decided to have an abortion a month before her due date, but he managed to survive the procedure somehow while his mother did not. He was adopted by a 20-year-old and grew up with him. His "brother," as Travis called him, died of cancer when Travis was only ten. He went to an orphanage until he was eighteen, when the orphanage burned down. It was then that he was sent to the orphanage with the others. He quickly became friends with Grim, and soon made friends with the others as well.

**Favorite Quote:** "You think you can defeat me, but in the deepest, darkest corner of your soul you know I will destroy you."

**Personal Quote:** "Get in my way and I'll personally remove you."

_Class schedule:_

_1st hour: Mr. Fedler - Calculus Honors_

_2nd hour: Ms. Lawanya - Ancient History_

_3rd hour: Mr. Ketting - Advanced Chemistry_

_4th hour: Lunch_

_5th hour: Mr. Plasky - Humanities_

_6th hour: Mr. Cert - Weapons Training_


	2. Chapter 1

"Put me down!" Rystan screamed.

"No. It's entertaining watching you," Kyrton told her.

"I'm warning you Kyrton. If you don't put me down Mr. Wilkan is going to walk in and see me hanging above the ground. What do you think he'll do?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out."

"KYRTON, put me down!" He just laughed. A second later they heard footsteps in the hall, so Rystan suddenly found herself on the ground. "You didn't have to drop me like that."

"Quiet, it sounds like Wilkan." As they listened the footsteps faded into the background. "That was close."

"Yeah, so don't hang me upside down like that again!" Kyrton laughed so hard he fell out of his chair and onto the ground. "This isn't funny. We can't let him or anyone know about our powers. You want everyone to think we're a bunch of freaks?"

"News flash: we are a bunch of freaks!"

"What's going on in here?" Xander came into the room.

"Nothing Xander," Kyrton told him.

"Then why was Rystan screaming at you and why did Wilkan come up here? Should I just read your minds so you don't have to answer?"

"No, that's okay Xander," Rystan interrupted.

"So what was going on up here?"

"Kyrton was just hanging me upside down and wouldn't put me back on the ground, that's all." Kyrton started laughing again.

"Kyrton, what have we all told you about using your powers." Xander raised his voice a little.

"Oh yeah, I know. We have to be careful so no one knows about us. But it's not like I would keep her hanging up there if Wilkan came up."

"Sometimes I wonder if you would even care if people found out about you." Xander walked back out and nearly ran into Eline, who was running down the hall. "Is Grim after you again?"

"Yeah. He keeps asking me questions and won't accept my answers, since he knows I'm lying. Why does he always do this to me?"

"Who knows?"

"You do, but you're the only one."

"True. I think you should start running again. I can hear someone running up the stairs." She took off down the hall. She was around the corner and out of sight just as Grim came up.

"Xander, where is she?"

"I don't know," he answered calmly.

"I know you're lying. Don't try to fool me. Now tell me where she is."

"Find her yourself." Xander walked back into his room and shut the door. He heard Grim continue running down the hall.

"What was that all about?" Preston asked.

"The usual. Kyrton's hanging Rystan upside down and Grim's after Eline again."

"Will they ever calm down? They don't even concentrate much at A.Y.I."

"That's not totally true. Grim slacks off a lot, and sometimes Kyrton as well, but other than that they work hard."

"Okay, so maybe they do work at school," Preston agreed, "but never here. They're always messing around."

"This is true. But I guess that's just the way of life for us."

"Some way of life. I can see the news headlines now: _Seven teenagers were found today to have supernatural powers. They have been locked away in an insane asylum where they can't cause any more trouble for us normal people._ Yep, that sounds about right, doesn't it?"

"I think they would keep us a secret actually, Preston," Xander told him, though he did chuckle a little. He was still getting ready for school when he noticed some things missing. "Do you have my books? I can't find them."

"I borrowed them last night, sorry." He poked his head out the window. "Looks like the bus is here. You get Rystan and Kyrton. I'll grab the other two." They grabbed their supplies and pushed the others out to the bus.

"Why do we have to go to some stupid Academy that's an hour away?" Grim complained.

"Quit griping," Preston told him. "You're the one who always finds something to do to entertain yourself." Grim smiled and looked at Eline.

"Don't give me that look Grim," she told him. He just continued to look at her, and sat by her on the bus.

"Wait," Rystan cried. "Where's Attlin?" They realized they hadn't seen him all morning.

"Maybe he slept in late," Preston suggested.

"Maybe he's sick," Grim hoped.

"Maybe he's walking out the door," Rystan pointed out. They saw him get on the bus and look for a seat.

_Why am I always the last one out here?_ Attlin asked himself.

"We're just out here early Attlin," Xander told him.

"Hey, stop reading my mind!" Everyone laughed. The other orphans started getting on the bus, so all talk of reading minds stopped. Attlin ended up sitting by Kyrton.

"Why were you late today?" Rystan asked. She was in the seat in front of them.

"Just finishing up homework," he answered.

"You always do your homework before bed," Kyrton pointed out.

"I was really tired last night." Kyrton fell silent, and Rystan turned back around. About halfway through the trip, Rystan felt herself floating slightly above her seat. She turned to look at Kyrton.

"Put me down," she hissed.

"I'm not doing anything," he told her.

"I'm warning you." She fell back into her seat and slipped off. The boy in front of her turned around.

"Rystan, why are you always falling off your seat? You do it at least once every day on the way to school."

"Just clumsy." Once the boy turned back around Rystan glared at Kyrton. He just smiled and looked out the window. While they were having their staring contest, Eline was having her own problems with Grim.

"I swear Grim, one of these days you're going to regret tormenting me," she snapped at him.

"Are you lying to me?"

"Stop it! Can't you just stop for one minute and pretend to be normal?"

"That would be so boring though. This way, I know when people are lying to me and I can get the truth quicker." Eline looked out the window. "How do I always end up sitting by you?" she asked half to herself.

"Because you really like me but are too afraid to say it."

"That's not true and you know it." He just smiled at her and she continued looking out the window. After an hour, they reached the Academy. They got off the bus and headed to their classes.

"Hey, did we have homework?" Rystan asked Eline.

"Yeah, problems one through one hundred in the book."

"Oops. I only did through fifty. Can I see your paper?"

"Sure." She handed over the paper. They got to class early and Rystan finished her homework a few seconds before class started. Their teacher always loved lecturing them first thing in the morning, which put most of them to sleep. Rystan tried to keep Eline awake.

"Hey, stop falling asleep."

"I'm awake." Her head began drooping again.

"I'll teleport you to Grim's class."

"You wouldn't dare. You can't do that in front of the teacher."

"Let's see. His first class is Pre-calc, right?"

"Rystan, Eline, what is so important back there?" They looked up into the face Ms. Paleit. "Care to tell the class?"

"No, Ms. Paleit. We were just discussing the lesson, that's all," Rystan said.

"Really? Then what did I just say about your homework?" Rystan thought for a minute. Eline jumped in and saved her.

"You said the evens were extra credit if we got them right."

"Correct," Ms. Paleit said. She walked back to the front, disappointed to have Eline answer correctly.

"How did you know that?" Rystan whispered.

"I didn't. I just guessed."

"Lucky guess." They paid attention for the rest of the class.

"Grim, how many times do I have to tell you to not throw pencils at Kyrton?" Grim looked up at his teacher.

"How many times do I have to tell you that he started it?" Grim shot back.

"I have never seen Kyrton throw a pencil all semester, so forgive me for not believing you. Now if you'll all turn..." Grim looked at Kyrton, who was smiling broadly.

"How come he never sees you?" he asked Kyrton.

"I'm just that good."

"No you're not. You're using your powers at school even though you've been told not to. You're going to get us caught one of these days."

"I won't get us caught. And besides, how are they going to tell who else has powers?" Grim didn't respond. He tried to pay attention to what Mr. Hilske was saying.

"Thank you Attlin." The teacher continued asking students questions.

"How did you know that?" Preston asked him.

"It was easy," he said. "Don't you understand this?"

"I do, but not enough to answer that question. But then again, you are a genius."

"Only when it comes to computers really."

"You also happen to be really good in math too." Attlin said nothing. They continued paying attention to the teacher, since they had a test the next day.

At lunch, everyone met at the usual spot. Rystan was there first, like always, then Attlin. They were usually the first ones there. Everyone arrived a few minutes later.

"So how's your day going?" Grim asked Eline.

"Fine."

"No it's not," he told her.

"Oh, can't you just pretend to not know if I'm lying!"

"I just asked you a simple question. If you're not having a good day, then just say so. You know I can tell if you're lying."

"Yeah, well, I hate Biology. My teacher doesn't know what the heck he's talking about."

"You have Mr. Ediel, right?"

"Yeah."

"I had him last year, and this year for Psychology. I think he enjoys the mind more than the body."

"Maybe." They talked while they ate, the others involved in their own conversations.

"So you didn't finish your homework?" Kyrton asked.

"No. I only did half of it. I must have missed the part when she said we had one through one hundred."

"You always pay attention though." Rystan shrugged. "And what about History or Chemistry?"

"History is such a drag. I don't even care about ancient civilizations. I'm interested in other stuff."

"Like?" Kyrton asked.

"I've told you this. I like English better because I like writing."

"Right, I forgot." Kyrton continued questioning Rystan, while Xander, Preston, and Attlin were in their own world.

"So that's all you have to do?" Preston was asking Attlin.

"You see, it's not that hard to fix a computer."

"If you understand their language, and I only speak one: English." Xander laughed.

"You can't even speak that correctly," he told Preston.

"So what do you guys do in Human Physiology?" Attlin asked.

"I told you, just say Human Phys. It's a lot easier to say," Preston interjected.

"Anyway," Xander said, "we're studying the brain right now. Not how people think, since that's more psychology stuff, but what parts control what."

"Interesting," Attlin commented. Xander chose that moment to listen in to Rytan's conversation. Attlin stayed quiet. Preston watched him, waiting to see if he would say anything else.

"You don't talk much do you?" he asked. Attlin looked up from his plate.

"Not really. I only talk when I have something to say or ask."

"I think your intelligence has taken the place of your social skills," Preston commented.

"Maybe, but where would I use those social skills? Not at the orphanage and at school I'm already known for being quiet. So what's the point?"

"The point is that you're going to go out into the world and get a job, but no one will talk to you since you don't talk at all."

"Then I'll work from home, if I ever get one."

"Yeah, like any of us will ever get out of the orphanage." Xander came back into the conversation along with Rystan, so Kyrton joined Grim's.

"What about the orphanage?" she asked.

"Just saying that we're all going to be stuck there till we're old and bald," Preston told her.

"We'll get out of there. You can't stay there past eighteen unless you work there, so you will be out whenever Wilkan realizes you're nineteen," Xander said. Rystan looked at Preston.

"You won't actually leave will you?"

"They'd have to beat me away with a stick, but I'm not scared of that since Attlin uses one." Everyone turned to Attlin.

"It's not just a stick," he said.

"We know," Rystan said. "It was just a joke." Attlin finished up his lunch. He took everyone's plate and threw them away.

"Why do you always throw everyone's plate away?" Grim asked. Attlin shrugged.

"We should head to our next class, or we're going to be late," Preston pointed out.

"All we need is Rystan and we'll never be late," Kyrton said. She glared at him.

"You know I won't teleport you anywhere, especially if it will help you out." He only laughed at her. They made their way to their classes. After fifth hour, they all had Weapons Training for sixth period. It was in the largest room, the old auditorium. They were the last people to get there.

"Glad you seven could join us," their teacher said.

"You know us Mr. Cert," Grim said.

"Yes I do know all of you unfortunately. You're the first one's to blame if someone is injured." They all looked at each other. "All right, get in your groups." They split up. "You all remember what we did yesterday, correct?"

"Yes," everyone muttered.

"Good. Get with your partner and continue practicing. I'll be walking around near each pair to critique your technique." Besides the last seven to arrive, there were only five other students. To keep damage in the classes minimal, each class could have only twelve students max.

The pairs were: Rystan/Kyrton; Eline/Grim; Xander/Preston; Attlin/Garett; and two pairs of girls who were never there. This was the last class they could miss, or they'd be kicked out of the class. So as usual there were only four pairs. The first pair he criticized was Eline and Grim.

"Nice work dodging Eline. Try to anticipate which hand he's going to use, and that should help you to decide which way to jump out of the way." She nodded her acknowledgment. "Try to send the bullets back at her Grim, instead of just bouncing them off your daggers in any direction. You could end up hitting one of your friends." Grim tried to concentrate more. Mr. Cert continued to give advice to the different groups until class ended.


	3. Chapter 2

The students grabbed their things and headed to the school entrance. The bus was already waiting to take them back to the orphanage. They got in and the bus headed back. After twenty minutes, Eline's hands started shaking and she went pale.

"Eline, what's wrong?" Preston asked.

"Someone's in danger," she said. She had her eyes closed and was concentrating on the feeling. "They're close." Preston ran through the bus to the bus driver.

"Pull the bus over!"

"I can't do that," he was told.

"That girl back there is going to be sick! Stop this bus or I'll do it myself!" The bus driver pressed the brake. Preston and Grim took Eline off the bus while the others followed. When they were out, they heard the bus start and looked behind them. The bus had left them there.

"Just great," Grim said. "Now we have to walk back and then deal with Wilkan because we're late."

"Shut up," Preston told him. "Eline, who's in danger?" Everyone watched her and waited for an answer. They were surprised with her answer. "We are." They looked around them. They were off the side of the road, with forest on either side.

No one could see anything or hear anything. Attlin was the first to speak. "How are we in danger?" he asked. Eline had stopped shaking, and didn't look quite as pale.

"I don't know really. I just got this feeling. You know I can't tell exactly what's putting us in danger." At that point they heard something moving in the trees.

They watched as some huge machine came into the open. It was at least nine feet tall. It had a head, arms and legs, but the arms had holes where the hands should have been. When it looked at them, things that looked like guns came out of the holes.

"This can't be good," Rystan said.

"Should we run?" Eline added.

"We don't know what it's going to do yet," Preston said.

"Well those look like guns and I don't want to find out if I'm right," Kyrton told him. "I say we run now and think about it later."

"I'm with Kyrton," Xander agreed. They ran a little ways into the forest, but they could hear it coming after them. "Perhaps one of us should try to slow it down," he suggested.

"Are you volunteering?" Grim asked.

"Since I know you won't, I guess that means yes."

"I'll stay with you," Rystan put in.

"No."

"You can't stop me." Xander sighed by didn't argue.

"I'm staying too," Kyrton said.

"No," both Xander and Rystan said. He looked confused.

"Having her is bad enough. I don't want another person to look after. You guys run ahead, we'll try to slow that thing down." Xander pulled out his whip and Rystan stretched her hands. They were the only two there when the machine reached them. It stopped moving when it saw them, and just stood there for a few minutes.

"Should we attack it?" Rystan asked.

"Just wait. Let it make the first move." After several minutes it still hadn't moved. "Maybe it only responds to attacks or movement."

"I can't wait any longer!" Rystan cried out. She ran and jumped on top of the machine. Two hands came out of the arms, which reached up to get her off. It grabbed her by her trench coat and threw her against a tree.

"Rystan!" Xander ran over to her.

"I'm all right. I won't let that happen again."

"I told you to wait."

"Perhaps you should tell that to the machine." He looked over and saw the machine was coming at them. This time there were swords instead of hands. "Move!" They jumped out of the way.

Rystan took the opportunity and jumped back on top of the machine. Xander used his whip and tried to pull the legs out from under it while Rystan distracted it. The machine was focused on Rystan, and didn't notice Xander.When it did finally notice, it tried to walk, but Xander still had his whip around its legs. Rystan tried to punch it, but she did more damage to herself than it. She pulled out her sword and attacked its head. When that didn't work, she jumped off and helped Xander pull the whip.

"Pull on three," he told her.

"Three!" they both cried without waiting. They pulled and it fell over. It replaced the swords with hands and started getting back up.

Rystan jumped on top of it and attacked it with her sword. She was making progress when it threw her into a tree. Xander ran over and took her sword. He walked to the machine, cutting through its head before it could get up again. The machine stopped moving. Xander walked back over to Rystan and handed her back her sword. He was helping her up when the others came back. Kyrton was the first to notice Xander helping Rystan.

"What happened to you?" he asked. He helped Xander get her up, then supported her while Xander walked back to the machine to inspect it. Rystan told him what had happened.

"So what is that thing?" Grim asked.

"Maybe it's a government experiment," Eline said. "What do you think Attlin?"

"Who knows? The government keeps these things under strict security, so I doubt it would be out here attacking us if it was from the government."

"Hey guys," Xander called, "come over here and check out this symbol." He pointed to something painted on the side as they walked over.

"Shin-Ra?" Preston said aloud. "I've never heard of that company. Have any of you?" They all shook their heads.

"And yet it does sound familiar," Attlin mumbled. "I think I've heard it before."

"Where?" Rystan asked.

"In one of my computer classes at A.Y.I. We've studied video games, and I think this comes from one of them."

"That's not possible though," Grim blurted out. "How could this be from a video game? I mean, we live in West Virginia, not some cyber world."

"I know that. I'm not sure, but I'll look this up on the internet."

"Tell us what you find," Xander told him. "For now, we should head back to the orphanage. We're in enough trouble as it is." They started back towards the orphanage, Kyrton still helping Rystan. They arrived in a little less than an hour.

"Where have you seven been?" Mr. Wilkan asked them. "I've had it up to here with the stunts you have pulled, but getting off the bus and refusing to get back on!"

"What do you mean 'refusing to get back on'?" Xander asked. "We got off because Eline was going to be sick. The bus left us."

"Whatever your excuses are, you'll all be punished for this. You're going to stay from school tomorrow and clean the entire orphanage while the others are gone. If it's not clean by the time they get back, you'll be in even bigger trouble." He was about to leave when he looked at Rystan and Kyrton.

"What happened to you?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she said. He walked over and grabbed her by her coat collar. He picked her up off the ground and held her up there while he asked her again. "I got in a fight," was all she managed to get out. Seemingly satisfied, he dropped her on the ground.

"Get to your rooms," he told them before walking back into his office.

"There are so many words I would love to call him," Grim said.

"Calm down Grim," Preston said calmly. "Let's try to avoid getting in any more trouble." Kyrton helped Rystan to her room, and they all went to bed early, which meant skipping dinner. Wilkan woke them all up at 5:30 the next morning to start their cleaning. Attlin was extremely tired compared to everyone else.

"You all know what to do, and you know the consequences. Get started." He left them to do their work.

"So who wants to do what?" Xander asked.

"I'll sweep the floors," Eline offered.

"I'll dust," Grim said.

"I claim bathrooms," Preston called out.

"I'll do any organizing that needs to be done," Attlin said.

"I'll mow the lawn," Kyrton announced.

"I guess that leaves me with windows," Rystan said.

"Wait, then what is Xander going to do?" Grim asked.

"I'll be in charge of making beds and rooms in general," he told them. They got the equipment and started on their jobs. Grim was always dusting wherever Eline was sweeping. Attlin was usually organizing things in the same room that Rystan was in.

"So what did you find out about Shin-Ra?" she asked him.

"It's from the game Final Fantasy VII, so I'm wondering how it appeared in our world."

"Could someone that knows about that game have painted it on as a joke or something?" Attlin thought for a minute.

"It's possible. But people our age, teenagers, are the main people playing these games. They wouldn't be the ones making or having access to that type of equipment."

"Oh well." They went back to work.

Rystan was finishing up the last window when she heard a creak beneath her. She looked down and saw that the leg of her chair was about to break. Attlin looked over when he heard it and he caught her when she fell.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Try to check your chair before you use it next time." He helped her back up and took the chair away. When Rystan looked over, she saw Kyrton standing in the doorway.

"Having chair malfunctions?" he asked sarcastically.

"Is there a problem?" she asked him.

"Apparently not," was all he said. He left before she could ask him another question.

"I'll never understand him," she thought out loud.

"Understand who?" Attlin asked when he re-entered the room.

"Kyrton." Attlin said nothing. He continued organizing the shelves and Rystan moved on to the next room with windows.

"Grim, all you're doing is getting in the way." Eline had been sweeping the floors, but Grim had decided to dust that exact spot.

"You missed a spot."

"I did not. And even if I did, it would be because you were in my way!"

"Do you really want me out of your way?"

"Yes!" He was silent for a minute.

"No you don't." Eline screamed silently. Wilkan had already scolded them once for being to loud and she didn't want to deal with him a second time. Eline hit Grim in the head with her broom and continued sweeping. She tried to ignore him the rest of the time. A few minutes later, before the bus arrived from the academy, Mr. Wilkan checked the orphanage.

"You did a satisfactory job except for a few minor details. I want to know who was responsible for the floors and organization of my book shelves." Eline and Attlin stepped forward. "I walk to talk to the two of you in my office, immediately. The rest of you are free to go." They followed him into his office, and the others watched as he shut the door.

"Well, they're done for," Grim said. No one spoke to him.

"So do you think you did a good job on the floors Eline?"

"Yeah," she answered quietly.

"Do you think you organized my book shelves correctly Attlin?"

"Yes."

"Well you're both wrong." He raised his voice a little. "The floors still have layers of dust on them! There are muddy footsteps in one of the rooms! The books aren't in any order at all! I can't find anything I need!" He continued yelling for a while, so they just listened. "So what do you think your punishment should be?" he asked them when he had finished ranting. Neither of the two replied. "Anyone?" Silence. "Fine. I'll ask someone else." He locked them in his office while he went outside.

"Who do you think he'll ask?" Attlin asked.

"He's asking about our punishment, so I doubt it'll be any of our friends. I just hope he doesn't ask Brett or any of his friends. They'll do anything to see us in pain."

"I'm sure Wilkan knows that, which means that's probably who he's going to ask." They stopped talking when he came back in.

"I have your punishments now. Eline, you will put away all tools when everyone goes to bed. You will clean them and put them in the right place. You can go to bed after you're done, so I would get your job done quickly. Attlin, you are to clean up the gym, the locker rooms, and put away the sports equipment after everyone has gone to bed. You can go to bed when you're done with that. You both can go now, but your punishments begin tonight."

Eline and Attlin left Wilkan's office and headed to their rooms. When they reached Attlin's room, they noticed everyone was sitting in there. Xander motioned them in, so they joined everyone.

"So what happened?" he asked them.

"We saw him go ask Brett something," Preston added.

"He gave us each an extra punishment," Eline said. They explained what Wilkan had said to them.

"If he asked Brett, then he or one of his buddies is going to waiting for each of you," Kyrton told them. "You can't do these jobs alone."

"Mr. Wilkan isn't going to allow any of you to help us," Eline said. "Even if Brett or someone is waiting for us, we're just going to have to deal with it alone." Eline headed outside to get the tools and Attlin to the gym. Rystan spoke the minute they left.

"They can't be alone! We know Brett is going to be waiting for them, or one of his pals."

"But what else can we do?" Xander asked.

"Eline is right about Wilkan not letting us help them," Preston said. "There's really nothing we can do."

"There has to be," Kyrton said.

"There isn't," Grim told him. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Like you care," Kyrton told him. Grim stopped talking.

"Kyrton, get some sleep," Xander ordered. "And don't try to argue or I'll put you in there myself." Kyrton walked out.

"Grim, you too," Preston told him. Grim just followed Kyrton instead of trying to argue. "Rystan, try to think of a way to get Attlin and Eline out of this."

"But don't forget to sleep," Xander added. He and Preston left Attlin's room and headed to their own. They went to bed shortly after. Grim and Rystan were up for a while though, until they heard Eline and Attlin come up to bed. When the next morning rolled around, Rystan and Grim were up first and went directly to Attlin and Eline's rooms. They were shocked when the doors opened.

"What happened!" Grim asked Eline. He walked into her room so she could shut the door. She had one black eye, either a broken or sprained wrist by the way she was holding it, and she had cuts and bruises all over.

"Last night, I went to put the tools away. I was just about finished when Brett's friend Devon came up. He started teasing me and pushing me around. Then he began punching me. When I fell down, he started kicking me. He called me all sorts of names and -"

"I understand. I'd say you should stay here instead of going to school, but Devon doesn't go to school."

"I should probably go to school. Maybe the nurse can give me something. I can't miss another day of my classes." Grim said nothing. He just helped her carry all her books to the bus.

"Attlin, what happened to you?" Rystan asked him. His eye was partially swollen, he had gash along one cheek among other bruises, and he was limping, favoring his right leg.

"I had finished putting all the equipment away last night and Brett came in. He pushed me into the ball rack and started throwing things at me. When he left, I had to put the equipment away all over again."

"What did he do to your leg?"

"He kicked my knee in, the wrong way. I don't know if it's broken or not."

"I'll take you to the school nurse and see what she can do for you." Attlin just nodded. She helped him down to the bus, where they met up with everyone else. Attlin and Eline retold what happened to the others after getting on the bus.

"So how long do these punishments last?" Rystan asked Eline on the bus.

"Wilkan never said. I should probably ask him that, but I'm afraid that he'll just make it even longer."

"True, but right now you don't even have an ending date yet." Eline thought about that. She noticed then how Grim and Preston were looking at her.

"Why are you both looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Preston asked.

"Like I'm a time bomb ready to explode any minute, and you're waiting for it."

"You're definitely not a time bomb," Grim said.

"We're just concerned about you," Preston explained.

"Well be concerned, but look somewhere else when you're doing it." She went back to her thinking.

"I'm fine Rystan, really," Attlin said.

"You're not fine. You just had the worst beating of your life. I'm only trying to help."

"Well you're not helping," he told her. He turned back to the window and stayed silent for the remainder of the ride. When they reached the academy they stayed in one big group instead of splitting up like normal. They all helped Eline and Attlin to the nurse's office where they were told to go to class. The nurse turned to face Eline and Attlin.

"So what happened to you two?" They looked at each other before answering.

"We were working in the yard and we fell into a patch of rose bushes," Eline answered.

"I didn't know the orphanage had rose bushes," the nurse commented.

"That's what we were doing in the yard. We were planting and trimming the rose bushes."

"And then you fell into them?" she asked.

"Yes. So should we go to class now?"

"Let me check you out to make sure nothing's broken and give you some medicine. Then you can go to class." Attlin's knee had to be popped back into place, but it wasn't broken. The nurse put on a brace and gave him some medicine.

"I'll see you at lunch Eline." Attlin left after she nodded. Eline's wrist was broken, but the nurse put a cast on it. Some medicine and then Eline walked off to class. Eline got the biggest reaction from people in her Biology class.

"So can we experiment on you and see what happened?" one boy asked. "We _are_ in biology." Eline ignored him. Everyone else asked the same questions.

"Please leave Eline alone," Mr. Ediel told everyone. "Let's just get back to work." Eline survived the rest of that class and headed to lunch.


	4. Chapter 3

Attlin and Eline were the last to arrive. No one was surprised at that. As they ate, Attlin talked to Rystan about things he had been looking at.

"During my Computer Programming class, I did some more research on Final Fantasy and that Shin-Ra logo."

"What did you find?" Rystan asked.

"Shin-Ra is the electric company in the seventh one. I kept looking and found out that there are about eleven or so games out in America. They're all created in Japan."

"So what does that have to do with that thing we fought?"

"That's just it. These are all video games, they don't exist. So I'm not sure how it could have come into our world, so to speak."

"Do you think that these games are actually other worlds or something?" Rystan didn't think that could be it.

"Normally I'd say no of course, but now? After having that thing attack us I'm not so sure about it. We know that this company is from a game that teenagers play. They wouldn't have access to materials for the kind of machine we fought. And what would be the point of making it?

"You're making a lot of sense, but how could another world exist?"

"I did some research on that too. Apparently, in Japan, they were doing some kind of test on these games. I didn't get to finish reading the article, but maybe that has some answers."

"But that doesn't explain how it got into our world."

"Well, that's another thing. I'm not accusing you of anything, but are you sure that you can perfectly control your teleporting?"

"Yes." Rystan slowly realized what he was getting at. "You don't actually think I could teleport something like that from another world into ours without knowing it do you?" Attlin shrugged.

"I don't know, but it's about time to get to our next class." Rystan helped him to his next class, much to the annoyance of Kyrton. Preston helped Eline to her class so he could talk to her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her.

"I'm doing okay," she told him.

"Are you really?" She looked up at him.

"Maybe not. I just don't feel like having to deal with Devon or any of Brett's other friends while I have to do this stupid punishment."

"Maybe you can get out of it. And even if you can't, one of us will find a way to help you so you won't be alone. That way we can protect you from whoever tries to hurt you." Eline nodded. He dropped her off at her class and went to his own.

When sixth period rolled around, Eline and Attlin were again the last of the students to get there. They split up into groups again, but Mr. Cert called them over.

"I'm not going to ask what happened to you two, but I'll allow you to sit today's lesson out and the following lessons until you're feeling up to training," he told them.

"I don't know about Attlin, but I want to try training," Eline said.

"I think I'll sit out," Attlin said. Mr. Cert just nodded. He began the lesson.

"Garett, you can join Kyrton's group. You should still be able to practice just fine with three people in a group. As you all have guessed, the four other girls in the class have dropped it for something else." While he continued explaining what they were going to do, Grim questioned Eline.

"Are you sure you should be practicing?"

"I want to try."

"You can hardly walk. How are you going to fight me?"

"Just fight me okay?" He nodded. Mr. Cert gave them the sign and they began fighting their partner. Grim didn't make the first move so Eline did the honors. He countered her attacks, but never hurt her much. "Why are you going easy on me?"

"Because you can't handle this." Mr. Cert was coming over to critique them.

"Are there any problems?" he asked.

"Yeah, Eline can't handle this," Grim told him.

"I can too handle this!" she said. Mr. Cert thought for a minute.

"I think I'd rather you sat out of the practice session today Eline," he said. She wasn't happy but sat down. "Grim, you can be Garett's partner." Mr. Cert moved on to critique Xander and Preston. After class was over, Eline and Attlin walked back to the bus with the others. There wasn't much conversation as they got on the bus.

"So how are you feeling Eline?" Rystan asked.

"I'm a little ticked off at Grim right now for telling Mr. Cert I couldn't handle training."

"We're all concerned about you. I'm sure Grim just wanted to make sure you didn't make your injuries any worse."

"So you're siding with him?" She sounded offended.

"I'm not siding with anyone. I was just saying that no one wants you to get hurt any more." Eline ignored everyone for the rest of the ride. When they reached the orphanage, Mr. Wilkan called her and Attlin into his office.

"How did your chores go last night?" he asked both of them. He seemed too happy for their comfort.

"What do you want Mr. Wilkan?" Eline asked.

"I heard that you left some of the tools outside Eline. And Attlin forgot to put away a few bats. If you want to get out of these chores any time soon you had better do a better job tonight or who knows when I'll let you off the hook." They left his office and headed to their rooms to start on their homework. Eline didn't get very far because she had an interruption. Grim knocked on her door and then came in without waiting for her to answer.

"What did Wilkan say?" he asked.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking and waiting?" she asked him.

"Just answer the question."

"He said that Attlin and I left some things out last night, and if we want to get out of these chores soon we need to do a better job."

"I bet Brett and his friends did a good job of messing up the cleaning you did after you went to bed."

"Why are they even at this orphanage? They don't go to the Academy because they're too old, and technically they're too old for this orphanage too."

"I think they work for Wilkan, which would explain why they're still here."

"This place needs to be reported," Eline commented quietly.

"Yeah, maybe, but then we'd all be split up. Who knows what would happen then."

"Our powers could be discovered, that's what. Wilkan would probably figure out we all do if just one of us is found out, and then he'd do all he could to expose us and get some kind of reward for it."

"So perhaps it's better if we don't report this place just yet," Grim told her. Eline sighed.

"Whatever. I need to do my homework." She went back to her English paper and Grim left her alone. Eventually she did her punishment, but this time Devon wasn't waiting for her. When everyone was on the bus the next day, they were actually happy about going to school.

"Friday at last!" Kyrton yelled out.

"Calm down," Preston told him. "I think everyone else knows that already, so you don't need to announce it."

"Sorry for being happy about no class for the next two days. After today, that is," he added. Preston just shook his head. When they got to school, everyone went their own way, but Grim still insisted on helping Eline to class. After that she was on her own.

During Xander and Preston's second hour, they were given the whole class period to work. They talked about what to do with Attlin and Eline's punishments. At one point though, their teacher came around to check everyone's work.

"Xander, Preston, how much work do you have done?" their teacher asked.

"Sorry Mr. Cidowsky we've been-" but Xander was interrupted.

"How many times must I tell you? Call me Mr. Cid. It sounds so much better. Just make sure you're using this class time to work, not for talking." Mr. Cid moved on, and they got back to work.

During third hour, Attlin was having his own problems. "Attlin, this is the third time I've had to come over here," the teacher said to him. "I've never seen you like this. If I have to come over here again, I'm going to send you to the office."

"Yes Mr. Daukie," Attlin said. He had been researching Final Fantasy on his computer, but he kept getting caught. The minute Mr. Daukie was gone, Attlin brought back up the screen. He was determined to find out all he could about the game. At lunch, Attlin and Eline were the last ones to arrive. Everyone had their food, plus they had Attlin and Eline's food waiting for them.

"Thanks," both Eline and Attlin said. They ate in silence, aware that everyone was watching them. Finally Grim broke the silence.

"So what happened last night?" he asked. Eline answered first.

"Nothing happened. No one was waiting for me." She knew Grim would see if she was lying, and he would find out she was telling him the truth this time.

"You're actually telling the truth. I'm surprised."

"What about you Attlin?" Xander asked him. "How did your punishment go last night?"

"It went fine," he said. He figured that Grim wouldn't read his mind. He normally didn't, so he wasn't too worried. Unfortunately Xander didn't believe him, so he had Grim check.

"He's lying." Xander looked at him surprised. When Attlin didn't respond, Xander asked again. "It didn't go as smoothly as Eline's but it was nothing big," he said. Xander looked at Grim, who checked him again.

"He's still lying."

"Attlin, this isn't like you. Just tell us what happened." Attlin looked at Rystan for a minute, then back at his food. Instead of responding he got up, threw the rest of his food away, and walked off. Rystan got up to go after him.

"Sit down Rystan," Xander said. "I'll go find him." Xander got up and followed Attlin. He caught up to him quickly.

"Why are you following me?" he asked him.

"Why won't you tell us what happened? Is it really that bad?" Attlin looked up at Xander.

"No, I just hate it when everyone's worried about me. Why do you want to know when you know it will only upset you?"

"Because I don't like seeing you hurt. None of us do." Attlin sighed.

"If that's the way you feel. Brett was there waiting, but this time Devon was with him. Devon held me down while Brett beat me up. When they left, I had to clean up the locker room all over again."

"Why didn't you tell us before? From now on, one of us will be with you while you clean. I don't care what Wilkan says, we'll find a way to be there." Attlin only headed to his next class with Xander. Then in fifth hour Xander told Preston everything that was said between him and Attlin. Preston agreed.

"I'll stay with Eline tonight. Since they went after Attlin last night, they might be going after Eline next." Everyone met up again during sixth hour, and Rystan talked to Xander about Attlin.

"So what happened to him?" she asked.

"Brett and Devon beat him up again, that's all." Rystan just walked back to get ready for class, but Attlin decided to talk to her before class started.

"I found out a little more about that Final Fantasy game," he told her.

"What?" she asked.

"I told you that Shin-Ra is from the seventh one. The head of Shin-Ra, Rufus Shin-Ra, is one of the bad guys you have to beat. He has a group of people under him called the Turks, who do a lot of his dirty work for him. The other bad guy in seven is called Sephiroth. He is supposedly the hardest Final Fantasy boss to beat. In eight, you have to fight basically three people. There's Seifer, who's not a main bad guy, but you fight him three times; Edea, an evil sorceress you have to kill two times; and Ultimacia, the head sorceress and main boss. She's hard, but apparently not as hard as Sephiroth.

"That's only seven and eight, which is all I could look at today. The first six aren't really as popular, but six I've heard is still pretty good. Final Fantasy X and X-2 are also big ones. I'm hoping to find out more about those this weekend." At that point, the head of the Academy came into the room and started talking.

"Today you will not be training with Mr. Cert. I'm afraid he's fallen ill and won't be back until next week. Your substitute will be Mr. Langlie. Please show him how well you behave for Mr. Cert." He left and Mr. Langlie came in.

Mr. Langlie stood up straight, so he seemed very tall and strict. He looked them over and began speaking. "Since I was not given any sort of curriculum, I want two of you to show me what you have been learning in this class." No one wanted to go up, so Xander and Preston stepped forward. "Thank you. Please demonstrate what you know."

Xander and Preston pulled out their weapons and began showing Mr. Langlie everything Mr. Cert had taught them. Eventually, Mr. Langlie told them to stop. Each stepped away and waited for him to say something. "You've obviously been taught a lot by your teacher. Hopefully I can teach you something you don't already know. Please get with your partners." Xander and Preston walked up to Mr. Langlie.

"Sir, there are two students that can't train right now," Preston told him.

"Who are these two students?" They pointed out Attlin and Eline. "I see. The two most pathetic looking students in this class as well." Xander and Preston were shocked.

"You don't understand," Xander began to explain. "They were just recently injured and physically can't train right now. They don't have enough strength for it."

"Of course they don't. Tell them that if they do not train, I will give your teacher a bad report about them." Xander and Preston knew they couldn't argue with him, so they walked away.

"What happened?" Eline asked.

"He said both you and Attlin have to train or he'll give Mr. Cert a bad report," Preston told her.

"Did you tell him we're injured?"

"He thinks you're faking it," Xander told her. "Go ahead and get with Grim and Garett, but tell them what happened. Hopefully Mr. Langlie won't notice if they go easy on you." Once everyone was partnered up, they were told to begin training. He walked around the class several times before talking to any of the groups. He started with Xander and Preston, but didn't say much.

"So he thinks girls are pretty much weak?" Grim asked.

"That seems to be the case," Eline told him. "Hopefully he won't care how well we fight and he'll just give us some tips." He came over and watched them before talking.

"Grim, you have very nice moves. I'm afraid I can't say the same for Eline. You're too slow so you can't block his attacks very efficiently." Eline said nothing.

"What tips can you give me for throwing daggers at moving targets?" Grim asked. He hoped to get Mr. Langlie off Eline's case. Unfortunately, he was not to be distracted.

"I'm sure your teacher can give you some tips for that. I will be leaving a note to your teacher, telling him about Eline's attitude and practice today." He left them and headed over to Attlin and Garett. He watched them for a few minutes, but didn't say much. He stood there watching for a few minutes, until he stepped in to make a comment. Garett had gone in to attack Attlin, but Mr. Langlie stepped in his way.

"You make your attacks to obvious," he told Garett. "Let me show you how it is properly done." He took Garett's sword and without warning attacked Attlin. He couldn't avoid the attack, but managed to block it at the last second. "That is how fighting should be done," Mr. Langlie told them all. He gave Kyrton's sword back and walked over to Rystan and Kyrton. After class was over, he called them back together before they could leave.

"Most of you did very well today. I will leave a note for your teacher telling him everything that went on in class, including those who did not do so well today." He looked at Eline and Attlin. "You may leave now." The seven headed out to the bus, Attlin and Eline dragging behind.

"Come on, the bus is right there," Preston told them. "Then you can rest on the ride back." On the bus, Eline sat down and fell asleep after a few minutes.

"Guess she's kind of worn out," Grim commented. No one said anything. "Hey Attlin, you've been researching those Final Fancy games, right?"

"Final Fantasy," Attlin corrected, "and yes. Why do you ask?"

"What do you know about them?" Attlin told everyone everything he knew so far.

"We should buy these games, and play them. See what they're like," Kyrton suggested.

"These games aren't cheap, and neither are the game systems you play them on," Attlin said. "Games can be twenty to forty dollars. The systems are anywhere from one hundred to two hundred dollars."

"So all we need to do is earn some money and find a place to buy used games." Attlin just let him hope for the best.

"We need to play seven at least, to find out more about Shin-Ra," Xander said. See if you can find a good deal for us," he asked Attlin, "but it has to be someplace close to the orphanage." Attlin nodded. They continued talking quietly, so as not to wake Eline, until they reached the orphanage.

"Wake up," Grim told her. She woke up and stumbled off the bus.

"Did I really sleep the whole way home?" Eline asked.

"Yup." They got together in Preston's room to talk about the weekend. Attlin agreed to try to find a cheap game and system while the others continued talking.

"Doesn't someone at this orphanage own a play station?" Kyrton asked. "I thought someone had one."

"Even if they did, Wilkan would have confiscated it by now," Preston said. "No one here has anything of worth, at least not with them. Wilkan supposedly keeps all our belongings safe, so they don't get ruined while we wait to get adopted."

"So if someone had one, Wilkan probably sold it to a pawn shop or something," Rystan commented.

"Anyway," Xander interrupted, "Attlin will look for the game and a system. Hopefully we'll be able to get it this weekend." After a while though, Eline and Attlin had to go do their chores.

"Wait, we're coming with you," Grim said.

"Wilkan won't be happy about it," Eline told him.

"We don't really care what Wilkan thinks, we're going to make sure you don't get hurt," Preston said. "Grim and I are going to be watching you. Xander is going to be looking after Attlin." They couldn't argue, so they agreed. Eline went outside and began picking up the tools left outside. Preston and Grim watched from the side. They had been sitting for a half hour when they saw Brett and Devon walk up to Eline.

"Still have to do your punishment?" Devon asked her sarcastically.

"You missed one," Brett taunted. "I think you need our help."

"Get lost," someone said from behind. Brett and Devon turned around to see Grim and Preston standing there.

"What did you say?" Brett asked.

"You heard me," Preston told him. "Leave her alone or you'll have to deal with us." Grim pulled a dagger out of his coat.

"You think you two punks scare us?" Devon asked. "You're just a bunch of pathetic losers, you and your whole group of friends. We could beat you in two seconds flat," he boasted.

"Prove it," Grim dared. Devon looked to Brett. They stepped towards Preston and Grim. They swung their arms to punch, but Grim ducked while Preston side-stepped it. Devon went after Grim, leaving Brett to take care of Preston.

"You'll pay for interfering with us," Devon said.

"Is that so? Well forgive me for not being scared." Devon continued to punch, while Grim dodged. Grim got one clear shot, and slashed the dagger across Devon's leg. He howled in pain.

"You won't be walking away from this fight," he told Grim. Grim said nothing. When Devon came in to punch, Grim sliced his leg again. Devon couldn't take it.

"You're on your own Brett," he called. Brett was too busy fighting Preston to acknowledge Devon. Brett was dodging Preston's mace, which proved easier said than done. Preston got a good hit in, and Brett looked to see how Devon was doing, only to discover that Devon wasn't there.

"Where's Devon?" he yelled at Grim.

"He left a few minutes ago, couldn't handle the pain." Brett didn't want to hear that, but he got up and ran after Devon.

"Don't think we're through," he called after to Preston. Grim walked over to Eline.

"How're you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks, both of you." Grim saw Preston standing to the side.

"I don't think they'll be coming back, so we'll leave before Wilkan comes out." He left and Grim followed. They met up with Xander on the way up to their rooms.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Brett and Devon were there, but we chased them off!" Grim said proudly. Preston laughed a little, but Grim didn't notice.

"What about you?" Preston asked. "Did anything happen with Attlin?"

"No. They must have decided that dealing with you was enough for one night. He's already back in his room and fiddling with his computer." Right then, Attlin came out of his room.

"You guys, get in here." They walked in and shut the door. "I found a cheap PS2 and Final Fantasy VII game. It's in a small store in the center of Charleston."

"How much is it?" Preston asked.

"Together they cost a total of one hundred ten dollars. If we want it, I need to put it on hold so no one buys it."

"We should." Kyrton said. "We'll find out about the Shin-Ra company, and it'll give us some entertainment." Everyone agreed.

"Put it on hold," Xander told Attlin. "I'll go into town and get it."

"No, I'll get it," Preston said.

"I have a license, and I've been to Charleston before. I should go." Preston consented. "So where is it?" Attlin printed out directions.

"Hey, one problem people," Grim said. They all looked at him. "Where are we going to get one hundred and ten dollars?" Attlin spoke up again.

"I've already thought about that. First, we could sell a few things, or a lot of things, to get the money. Or we could use a different method."

"This method would be?"

"I have Wilkan's credit card number. I hacked into his bank account once and got it. We could give them his number and have them charge it to his account. He has his secretary do his finances, so he'd never know."

"Good idea," Preston said. "What's the number?" Attlin gave it to Xander.

"Just be sure not to lose it."

"Right. I'll go say goodbye to Eline and Rystan before I go." He said goodbye to those in the room, then headed out. He found Eline first, since she was coming up the stairs. When he'd said goodbye to her, he went to Rystan's room.

"Xander, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I just came to say goodbye before I left."

"Where are you going?"

"Attlin found us a game system and Final Fantasy game. I'm going into town to pick it up."

"So you'll be back by Sunday?"

"I'll have to or Wilkan will get suspicious."

"See you later then." He walked out and Rystan finished her homework before going to bed.


	5. Chapter 4

When everyone woke up the next morning, it took them a few minutes to remember where Xander had gone. It didn't take Wilkan long to notice Xander's absence either.

"Where is he?" he asked Preston.

"He went into town to get a few things."

"Like what?" Preston didn't have to think very long.

"He had to get some supplies for the orphanage," Preston told him. Wilkan eyed Preston suspiciously, but quit asking questions.

Attlin stayed on his computer most of the day. He was either doing homework or researching Final Fantasy. Preston stayed with Attlin for a while, but then went to check on Eline. He found her playing volleyball with Grim. Rystan and Kyrton were watching from the side.

"Having fun?" Preston asked as he sat down.

"Yes," Rystan replied. "Grim's making a complete idiot out of himself trying to play volleyball." Preston noticed that she spoke the truth.

"Why aren't you two playing?" He looked at her and Kyrton.

"I can't play," Rystan said.

"And we can't have uneven teams," Kyrton added, "so I can't play unless she does."

"If Rystan joins Grim's team, together they equal one decent player," Preston teased. Eline and Grim came over.

"Sure you don't want to help out Grim?" Eline asked.

"I'll play if someone else does," Kyrton said.

"Come on Rystan," Eline pleaded.

"No. I refuse to make a fool out of myself." Preston looked to Kyrton, who nodded. They got up and grabbed Rystan's arms. They pulled her off the bench and over to the court. "Let me go!"

"You can play with Grim and me," Preston told her. "Eline and Kyrton will be the other team." She looked skeptical, but stayed on the court. Eline served first. Preston hit it over the net, and Kyrton hit it back. Grim went for it, but missed by a little.

"That's one to zip," Eline said. She served again. It came to Rystan who let it hit her head instead of hitting it with her hands, causing it to bounce off in the wrong direction.

"Sorry," she said.

"Two zip," Kyrton announced. Preston gave her a few tips before Eline served again. This time Grim hit it and Eline missed it.

"One to two," Preston said. "Our serve." He held the ball out to Grim, who quickly said no. When he turned to Rystan she was already shaking her head. "Guess I'll serve." Eline hit it. Preston hit it back, and Kyrton missed by a few inches. The game lasted several hours. When they called it quits they discussed the final score. The Half-Pints, Preston's team, had fifteen. Rystan said their name was because she and Grim were both half as good as Preston. Eline's team, The Dominators because they supposedly dominated the game, had fourteen. Rystan scored the winning point.

As they walked up to their rooms, Attlin opened his door. He motioned for them to come inside. When they did, Xander was sitting on the bed.

"You're back already?" Preston asked.

"Not happy to see me?" Xander asked back.

"Of course we're happy to see you," Rystan interrupted. "We're all happy to see you."

"So did everything go okay?" Attlin asked.

"Yep. Not a problem. In fact, I was able to get two games instead of just one." He brought out two cases. One was labeled Final Fantasy VII. The second one was Final Fantasy VIII. "The man said he didn't want it, so he gave it to me practically for free."

"And I'm assuming you got the PS2 to go with them?" Grim asked.

"But of course." Xander put the games back in the bag. Then he looked at everyone besides Attlin. "What were you all doing?" he asked.

"Playing volleyball," Kyrton answered. "Rystan scored the winning point."

"You don't sound too happy about that."

"He's not," Rystan said. "He and Eline played against Grim, Preston, and me."

"Those aren't exactly equal teams," Attlin pointed out.

"They are if you have me," Grim said. Everyone laughed. They stopped suddenly when they heard footsteps outside the door. Xander quickly hid the bag with the games and PS2. Then he stood behind everyone else. Wilkan walked in.

"What seems to be so funny?" he asked them. Grim opened his mouth to say something but Eline elbowed him. "Well?"

"Just telling jokes," Preston said.

"What kind of jokes?"

"The funny kind," Kyrton said.

"Tell me one." No one said a word. Eventually Wilkan got tired of waiting. He was about to leave, then turned back. "Shouldn't you two be doing some cleaning?" he asked Attlin and Eline. He shut the door. Eline and Attlin opened the door to leave as well, but Brett was blocking the doorway.

"Where are you guys going?" Brett asked them.

"Leave them alone Brett," Grim said.

"Or what?" Devon appeared in the doorway.

"Or you'll receive a worse beating than last time," Preston said.

"I don't think so," Brett said. He pushed his was into the room. "You see, Wilkan has appointed us as overseers of all chores and work. So we have to make sure everyone is doing their job. That means we have to keep an eye on Eline and Attlin here."

"Even if that's true," Xander said, stepping out, "that doesn't give you permission to hassle them. If they're doing their work you can't do anything to them."

"We'll see." Brett walked back to the door, stopping behind Eline and Attlin. "Get moving!" Without waiting a second for their response, he picked up Attlin by the back of his shirt. Devon did the same to Eline. Brett closed the door.

"We can't just let them leave!" Grim said.

"What can we do?" Rystan said. Grim turned towards her, but Preston spoke first.

"I hate to admit it, but Rystan's right. There's really nothing we can do until Eline and Attlin are done with these chores." Grim walked out of the room with Kyrton right behind him. Xander and Preston left as well, leaving Attlin in his room. He pulled out the bag and put in somewhere safer. He decided tonight wasn't the best night to start one of the games. When Attlin and Eline returned to their rooms that night, they appeared fine. Grim decided to ask Eline about it in the morning, just to be sure.

"I'm fine," Attlin told Xander for the third time. "Have Grim check me. Brett dropped me off at the gym and left me. Nothing happened." He gave up, accepting his answer as the truth. Grim was getting the same answer from Eline.

"So you're telling me nothing happened to you last night?" he asked her.

"That's right," Eline said. "Check me, but I'm not lying." He knew she wasn't, so he let it drop. The rest of the day went without problems, except everyone was disappointed that they had to go back to school the next day. Theywere all up on time and got on the bus, but no one said much. It was a Monday, and the only thing that got them through the day was looking forward to sixth period. When they arrived, they were relieved to see Mr. Cert standing there. He noticed their reaction.

"I received a note from my sub about this class's behavior on Friday."

"Don't believe a word of it," Grim spoke up.

"Calm down Grim," Mr. Cert told him. "Would you like to know what he wrote?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "It reads:

_Mr. Cert,_

_You have two gifted students in your class: Xander and Preston. You also have two students that showed no effort: Attlin and Eline. They lied to me and did not apply themselves. I suggest you tell those two to get their act together or have them drop the class. The other four students were mostly well-behaved._

_- Mr. Langlie_

"I will say this much," Mr. Cert said. "Xander and Preston are good students, but so are the rest of you. I don't know what happened on Friday with Attlin and Eline, but I don't think Mr. Langlie will be subbing for me ever again. Now, this week and the next will be a bit different. Every day you need to bring a set of clothes to change into."

"What for?" Kyrton asked.

"I'm getting to that. We'll be practicing outside, so you will be getting dirty. Since none of you knew that for today, we will be inside." At the end of class, the only thing on everyone's mind was what they'd be doing outside. When they arrived at the orphanage, they were disappointed to find out that rain was predicted for the rest of the week.

"Hopefully we'll still be outside," Eline said.

"I don't think Mr. Cert would keep us inside just because of a little rain," Xander told her.

During their chores, Eline and Attlin were watched. Brett kept on eye on Attlin while Devon looked after Eline. When they were done working they joined everyone else in Attlin's room to play Final Fantasy VII.

"We should put this away before Wilkan comes up," Preston said.

"It's getting late as it is," Kyrton added.

"Don't forget your clothes for WT," Xander reminded them. Attlin shut off the game and everyone went to bed.

The next morning was dark. The entire sky was overcast, and the clouds looked ready to pour down rain any minute. It started sprinkling on the bus ride, though no one noticed since they were all discussing the game. It was still raining lightly at lunch when they started discussing what Mr. Cert would have them do sixth period. After lunch they went to their classes, eagerly awaiting their last class of the day.

"I'm glad you all remembered extra clothes," Mr. Cert told them. "Now follow me." He led them outside through a back door. He walked a while before stopping next to a forest. Right then the clouds let loose and it began pouring.

"What are we doing here?" Kyrton asked.

"This is where we will be training. For the rest of this week and the next, you are to come here after your fifth hour class. You will need to change before coming, but come here directly after that, understand?" They all nodded. "Good. Now get with your partners." When they had done that he continued. "You are to spread out in the forest, away from the other groups. Don't go so far that I can't find you."

"Should we really be out here in the rain?" Attlin asked.

"The rain won't change out training out here," Mr. Cert said. "I will be walking around to observe you." The pairs separated.

"This will make things interesting," Grim commented.

"It won't change much," Eline said. When they decided they were far enough, Grim pulled out his daggers.

"Ready?" he asked. She nodded. A few minutes after they started fighting Mr. Cert came up to watch them. Grim threw a dagger at Eline. It nicked her arm, but not much. He pulled out another but she shot it out of his hand. She lowered her gun when she saw Mr. Cert.

"Nice job of shooting the dagger Eline," he said. "And your aim with your daggers has definitely improved Grim," He walked on, letting them continued. It didn't take long for him the critique the other groups. When there was about ten minutes left in class, he gathered all the groups back together. When they got back to the school, they changed quickly and ran to the bus. They barely made it. About halfway back, the bus blew a tire. It screeched to a halt. The bus driver told everyone to stay calm while he checked it out.

"How long you think we'll be here?" Grim asked.

"Who knows," Eline said. The bus driver came back on.

"This bus won't be going anywhere anytime soon," he said. "Don't worry, I've already called up someone and another bus will be here shortly. Until then, you can get off the bus but don't go far." Everyone got off. The seven of them stood below some trees to avoid the rain. While they were waiting, Rystan saw Eline staring through the trees. When she saw what Eline was looking at they both took off running. Attlin was the first to notice their absence, and he pointed it out to Preston.

"Why would they run off?" Preston wondered. He told the others and they all went looking for Eline and Rystan.

"What could they have seen?" Kyrton asked. No one answered him. It was only a few more minutes before they spotted the two. They weren't alone though. There was someone else with them.

"Who is that?" Grim asked. The stranger answered him.

"My name's Reno. I work for Rufus Shinra." There was a long pause of silence where the only noise came from the rain.

"That's not possible though," Attlin said quietly.

"It's just like that Shin-Ra machine," Kyrton said. "Both apparently from Final Fantasy VII."

"So if this insanity is actually real, what do we do?" Rystan asked. She and Eline had now backed up to the others.

"Debating on whether to fight me?" Reno asked them. He took a few steps closer to them and pulled out some sort of rod.

"Not exactly," Xander said. Reno was close enough, so he stuck out the rod and hit Xander with it. He felt the electricity coming from it. When Reno stepped back again, Xander was clearly a little weaker.

"What do you want from us?" Eline asked.

"Answers," he said simply.

"What makes you think we have answers to any of the questions you have?" Grim asked.

"If you don't want to answer them, then you'll have to fight me."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Preston said quietly.

"But what choice do we have?" Rystan asked. Reno had been watching them, and he now pulled out a gun. As he began firing shots they all scattered. Rystan jumped over and behind him. Kyrton, Grim, and Eline moved to the right. Xander, Preston, and Attlin moved to the left.

"How do we fight him?" Eline asked.

"Not sure. We died the first time we fought him in the game," Grim answered.

"We need to stay away from his electric rod," Kyrton said. "That'll do a lot more damage with this rain." Grim and Eline nodded. They looked across at the others. Reno had turned around to see where Rystan landed.

"Nice jump," he said.

"Thanks," she replied sarcastically. Reno turned quickly towards Preston's group and fired. They moved quickly, but one of the bullets scraped Attlin's arm. While Reno was facing them, Grim threw one of his daggers. It went into Reno's arm, causing him to stop firing. He turned to face Grim and pulled the blade out. Then he mumbled something, and everyone saw his arm begin to glow. His wound slowly healed itself up.

"Thought a little dagger could stop me?" he asked. No one responded; they were still debating if they had really seen his wound heal itself in a matter of seconds.

"How did you do that?" Kyrton asked.

"Simple magic," Reno told him. He fired off shots at Grim while running towards the others. Grim, Kyrton, and Eline moved to avoid the bullets. Rystan jumped over Reno again to get away, but this time he knew where she would land. He turned around and shot her while she was in mid air.


	6. Chapter 5

"Rystan!" Xander and Kyrton shouted at the same time. They ran over to her as she fell. They heard someone running towards them through the trees, but didn't pay to much attention until they person emerged. He came through and ran at Reno with an extremely large sword.

Reno started firing off more shots, but then suddenly stopped. They heard Reno yell out, "I'm not finished with you yet Cloud!" just before he ran off. Then they turned around to get a better look at the stranger.

"No way," Kyrton said.

"It looks exactly like Cloud from the game," Xander told him. They looked back at Rystan. As they did, Cloud came up behind them.

"Let me see her," he told them. Too shocked to do otherwise, they let him through. Everyone huddled around him to see what he would do. He mumbled something, and the same strange glow surrounded Rystan.

"What's happening?" Attlin asked. When the glow faded, Cloud stepped back and the others moved forward.

"Rystan, are you all right?" Xander asked. He saw that the bullet was on the ground and her wound was gone.

"I think so," she said slowly. She tried to get up, but needed a little help. Kyrton grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "What happened?" she asked. She was looking at Cloud.

"I used my materia to heal your wound," he told her.

"Thanks," she said, "but how?" She was as confused as everyone else.

"Don't you know what materia is?" he asked. No one answered immediately.

"We've heard of it, but . . ." Preston didn't finish the sentence.

"Why was Reno fighting all of you?" Cloud asked.

"We don't know," Xander answered.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked.

"What do you mean?" Xander asked. "We were just fighting Reno and you showed up out of nowhere. Hold on, how did you get here?"

"What do you mean by here?" Cloud asked. Now he was starting to look a little confused.

"He means," Grim interrupted, "how did you get to West Virginia?"

"West Virginia?" Cloud repeated. "Is that a new town near Nibelheim?"

"Nibelheim?" Preston said. He leaned towards Xander and whispered, "I don't know if I believe this, but maybe he still believes he's in the game, or his world, or wherever he comes from."

"You could be right," Xander whispered back. "Cloud, where do you think you are?"

"Just outside of Nibelheim, in a nearby forest," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Okay, so why do you think you saw Reno here?"

"He was fighting you, so he must have been after you for something."

"So have you ever heard of Final Fantasy?" Everyone let Xander do all the talking, since he seemed to be less confused than they were. It was still raining though, so they hoped he wouldn't talk to long.

"Final Fantasy? No I haven't. What is it?" Xander looked at Preston.

"How do we explain this to him?"

"I don't know, but we need to get back to the orphanage soon. We can't leave him out here either though, when he has no idea where he is," Preston answered.

"All right." Xander turned back to Cloud. "Why don't you come with us and I'll try to explain as much as I can." Cloud nodded. He put his sword on his back and walked over to them.

"I'm pretty sure we've missed the bus by now," Kyrton whispered to Rystan.

"So what are your names?" Cloud asked as they began walking.

"I'm Xander. This is Preston, Attlin, Grim, Eline, Kyrton, and Rystan." He pointed to each person as he introduced them.

"It might take me a while to remember all of those." That eased the mood a little. Xander asked Cloud to tell him about his past, and his world but without using that word. As Cloud explained, everyone was listening. By the time he was done they had reached the orphanage.

"Wait," Grim said. They were a few minutes away, still out of sight. "What do we do with him now? Wilkan isn't just going to let us bring him in with us."

"Good point," Xander said. "Okay, I have an idea. Eline is in charge of cleaning up outside before she goes to bed. She can have Cloud hide in the shed until everyone else is in bed."

"One problem," Eline said. "I'm watched by Devon the entire time."

"You still have a key to the shed though," Preston said. "You can go back down once Devon's asleep and bring Cloud up." It was agreed, so Eline and Preston went around back and put Cloud in the shed. Thankfully he didn't argue.

"Where have you been?" Wilkan asked as everyone came in the front door. It was still raining outside, so they were all soaked and dripping mud, and an hour late.

"They bus left us behind, so we had to walk back in the rain," Xander said.

"Oh, so you got left behind huh? Well that's no excuse!" he yelled. "Eline and Attlin will continue to do their chores under the supervision of Brett and Devon. The rest of you shall find chores to do on your doors in the morning." He walked into his office and shut the door. Eline and Attlin left to do their chores while everyone else headed to Xander's room.

"So what are we going to do with Cloud?" Kyrton asked.

"We'll just have to keep him here until we figure out something else to do," Xander said.

"Like what?" Grim asked. "Are we going to try to find a way to send him back to wherever he came from? Or are we going to keep him here?"

"I don't know," Xander said, irritated. "Hopefully playing Final Fantasy will give us some ideas. Why don't we get some sleep though, we've had a long day." It was evident he was annoyed, so no one argued. Preston was the only one to stay awake.

"Preston?" He heard Eline call him when she was ready to bring Cloud up.

"I'm here." He opened the door and followed her outside. She unlocked the shed and Cloud stepped out. He followed them inside and up to Preston's room. Eline went to her own room.

"So I'm staying here?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. You can sleep in here tonight. When we leave in the morning, we'll leave you some food to eat during the day. We should be back around 4:45 in the afternoon if nothing goes wrong."

"What will I do during the day?"

"I don't know. Whatever you do, don't let Wilkan know you're in here, or anyone else for that matter. Just stay out of sight." Cloud nodded and slept on the floor. In the morning Preston brought some food from the kitchen up to him.

"Like I said last night, we'll be back around 4:45." Cloud nodded.

"So he hasn't been seen yet?" Eline asked Preston on the bus.

"Not yet," he said. "Let's hope that doesn't change during the day." When they arrived at school, they went to their classes. At lunch, no one said much. They were all wondering how Cloud was doing. They made it to weapon's training and headed to the forest after they had changed.

"Nice to see you all again," Mr. Cert told them when everyone was there. "I forgot to mention something to you yesterday before you left. Every day this week and next week you will be with a new partner. I want to see how well you adapt to different opponents and weapons." He gave out the new groups: Grim/Rystan, Eline/Xander, Attlin/Preston, and Kyrton/Garrett. "Now spread out and I'll come around again like yesterday."

Eline let Xander decide how far to go. He turned towards her as he pulled out his whip, and she pulled out her guns. He immediately used his whip and pulled one of the guns from her hand. She quickly moved away from him. She tried to stay out of reach of his whip at all times, while trying to get a good shot. She fired a few shots at him, most missing. One came close but he jumped out of the way. He was close enough to her so he used his whip and wrapped it around her legs. He pulled her down to the ground when Mr. Cert came out.

"Good job. You use your whip very effectively Xander. Eline, you did a nice job waiting for the right time to fire." He moved on to each group until he'd seen them all. At the end of class he brought them inside again and they changed. Then the seven of them ran to the bus. On the way back, they discussed again what to do about Cloud.

"Should we try to tell him about Final Fantasy and our world?" Rystan asked.

"That might confuse him, but we can't keep him in the dark forever," Xander said. "We'll have to tell him eventually."

"That can wait for now, because first we need to find out where he's going to stay," Grim pointed out.

"He can stay in my room for now, but Wilkan will notice something sooner or later," Preston told them.

"What if he kept switching between our rooms?" Kyrton suggested. "He could stay in Preston's room one night, mine the next, and so on."

"We need to find him a permanent place to stay, where Wilkan won't find him," Xander said.

"Where are we going to find a place like that?" Grim asked. "It's not like we can rent him an apartment or something. We don't have any money, and Wilkan would notice if there was an amount of money being taken from his bank account every month."

"Grim has a point," Preston said. "We don't have many options open to us because we have no money. And our options decrease even more because we're orphans."

"So what can we do?" Eline asked.

"Isn't there some place in the orphanage where no one goes, where he could stay?" Rystan asked. Everyone thought for a minute.

"The shed would work, but Devon will be watching me while I do my chores," Eline said.

"Chores!" They all looked at Attlin who had remained silent so far on the bus ride. "Wilkan put chores on our doors this morning." After a minute, Rystan understood what he was saying.

"Oh. With all of us doing chores, maybe someone will find a room where we can put Cloud," she explained. Attlin nodded.

"But that still leaves the question of where to keep him for now," Kyrton reminded them.

"We'll use your idea for now," Xander told Kyrton. "He'll switch rooms every few nights until we find him a safer place."

"Great," Grim said. "Now that that's settled, what are we going to tell him? And what are we going to do if someone else pops up? We've already run into Reno. What's to keep other people from coming here?"

"I don't know," Xander said, "but something tells me we need to finish these games quickly." Everyone agreed. It wasn't long after that when they reached the orphanage. Five of them ran to their rooms to see their chores, while Eline and Attlin went to their own rooms to do their homework.

"I've got bathroom duty," Grim announced. "What about you guys?"

"Garbage detail," Kyrton said.

"Yard work," Rystan told them.

"Kitchen duty," Preston read.

"Dusting and general cleaning," Xander added last.

"I don't think I'm going to find many places on bathroom duty," Grim said.

"Same here," Kyrton said. "Don't think he'd want to stay in a garbage can."

"Not many places in the yard either," Rystan said.

"Unless you let the weeds grow, then he could hide in them," Kyrton joked.

"Well no matter," Xander told them. "Keep an eye open for anything." They all went into their rooms to do their homework before starting their chores. Preston walked into his room, but didn't see Cloud.

"Cloud, you can come out now." He heard something moving in the closet, and Cloud appeared. "Were you in the closet all day?"

"No, just when someone came in a little while ago."

"Oh. I've got some chores to do after my homework, so you'll still have to stay up here and out of sight." Cloud only nodded. Everyone finished around the same time and started on their chores.


	7. Chapter 6

As everyone did their chores, they kept an eye open for somewhere to hide Cloud. Brett and Devon moved from person to person, keeping an eye on all seven of them. When the chores were finished, everyone met in Attlin's room.

"So anyone find anything?" Preston asked.

"It's only been one night," Grim told him. "How do you expect us to find anything on the first night?"

"Calm down Grim," Xander said.

"So where's Cloud going to stay tonight?" Kyrton asked.

"He can stay in my room again tonight," Preston said. "We'll put him somewhere else tomorrow." Everyone headed to their rooms. Preston found Cloud in the closet again.

"So I'm staying in your room again?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, though you'll be somewhere else tomorrow." Cloud nodded.

"How long will I be here?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I'm not sure," Preston said honestly. They stopped talking and went to bed. Preston left for school in the morning, but Cloud had been up too.

"So where's he staying tonight?" Preston asked Xander on the bus.

"He can stay in my room."

"You probably have the best chance of finding a room for him since you go all over the orphanage," Preston said.

"Hopefully you'll find something soon," Rystan jumped in. They both looked at her. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear."

"That's fine," Xander told her. When they reached school, everyone waited for sixth hour to come. They met Mr. Cert outside again. Once out there, it began to rain. Mr. Cert handed out the new partners and they split up.

Attlin and Grim started sparring right away. Attlin stopped to hand Grim back his dagger, but spun his stick again when Grim launched another attack. One of the daggers hit and flew off in another direction. The other stuck in his stick. Attlin pulled out the dagger and tossed it back to Grim. Grim caught the dagger and picked up the one on the ground. He and Attlin began circling one another again. Grim charged and switched directions at the last minute. He knocked Attlin to the ground, but Attlin threw Grim off with his stick. Mr. Cert showed up at that point.

"Good tactic of switching directions," he told Grim. "Nice use of your weapon to deflect Grim's daggers," he said to Attlin. He continued to another group. At the end of class, they went back inside to change. The seven of them rushed to the bus.

"I can't believe it's a Thursday already," Rystan said.

"It seems like it was Monday only yesterday," Kyrton added.

"So over the weekend we can talk to Cloud and figure out what to do with him," Attlin told them.

"We still have to find a place to put him," Preston pointed out.

"I think Xander is our only hope for that," Grim said. They talked the rest of the way back. Upon reaching the orphanage they met up in Xander's room.

"So why did you tell us to meet you in here?" Grim asked.

"I think we need to talk to Cloud as a group," Preston told them.

"Why can't we do this over the weekend?" Eline asked.

"Because the longer we wait, the more trouble we can get into." Preston answered her. He opened the closet door and Cloud stepped out. Xander made sure the door was locked. Cloud looked at each person, ending on Preston.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We want you to tell us the last thing you remember before you found us fighting Reno."

"I had been following Reno outside of Nibelheim," Cloud told them. "I wanted to know what he was doing there. I followed him into a forest when he started running. I assumed it was because he realized he was being followed. I lost him for a while, but then heard battle sounds, like gun shots and yelling. I followed the sounds and found you guys fighting Reno." Xander spoke up first.

"So you don't remember anything strange when you entered the forest?"

"No."

"Maybe Reno knew about something in that forest," Rystan said, "like a portal to our world. Cloud didn't know, and he came from one forest into another so he didn't notice anything different when he followed Reno in."

"That's possible," Preston said.

"Need I remind everyone that he is from a video game," Kyrton said.

"We know that Kyrton," Preston said, "but do you have any other explanation for this?"

"No."

"Someone's coming," Attlin announced quietly. Preston quickly shoved Cloud back in the closet and Xander unlocked the door. Wilkan came in.

"What's going on in here?" he asked them.

"Just talking," Rystan answered.

"We'll do our chores when we're done with our homework," Xander told him. Wilkan looked surprised, like Xander had read his mind.

"Don't try to skip them; Brett will be keeping an eye on all of you." He left them.

"Did you read his mind to answer his question before he asked it?" Eline asked Xander.

"I just wanted to get him out of here," Xander said. Everyone laughed. They went to their own rooms and finished their homework. Then they did their chores. Xander was the last one done, instead of Attlin. He went to Preston's room right away.

"I found a place to keep Cloud," Xander told Preston.

"We'll have to wait until everyone's asleep," Preston said.

"I know. I'll come get you when it's safe." About an hour later, Xander brought Preston and Cloud to a hidden attic. "I found it when I was cleaning. I'm the only one with the key."

"So I'll stay here from now on?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. We'll still bring you food and stuff, but it'll be easier to keep you hidden up here," Preston told him. They went back down to their rooms. The next morning on the bus, the others noticed how tired they were.

"Didn't sleep well?" Rystan asked.

"No, it's because we found a place to put Cloud," Preston explained.

"Where?" Eline asked.

"There's a hidden attic in our orphanage, and I have the only key," Xander said.

"And that's why you're tired?" Grim asked.

"Yes," Preston said. They arrived at school and headed to their classes. At lunch they continued talking about Cloud.

"Even though we know who he is, we don't know much," Attlin said. "We should continue playing the game so we learn more."

"I agree," Eline said.

"We'll have to make sure Wilkan doesn't find out," Attlin continued.

"That's obvious," Kyrton said. "Besides VII, shouldn't we start playing some of the other games, in case characters from those start popping up?"

"That might be a good idea, since then we would already know who the person is, if they somehow showed up," Rystan jumped in. They talked some more, then headed off to their classes. When sixth period came around, they changed quickly and headed outside to get their new partner assignment.

"What!" both Rystan and Eline shouted.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Cert asked them.

"We have to fight each other?" Eline asked.

"Yes, and you aren't getting out of it," he told them. They looked at each other.

"I'm guessing you never had to find the spot to practice, did you?" Rystan asked. Eline shook her head. "Me either. Let's get going so we can get this over with."

"At least this will be interesting," Eline said.

"Yeah, interesting. I wonder who else is partnered up." They found a spot and began practicing. Rystan threw her coat to the side, and Eline pulled out a gun.

"So how do I practice shooting people effectively when I only get to use blanks?" Eline asked. Rystan shrugged. "I'm not going easy on you either."

"I wouldn't want you to." Rystan smiled.

"So you're my partner?" Kyrton asked Attlin.

"That's right." They found a spot and pulled out their weapons. Attlin braced himself when Kyrton ran at him. Kyrton's sword sliced through the pole up until it hit the metal in the middle. Kyrton pulled it out quickly. Attlin retaliated and swung at Kyrton with his pole. "You forgot about the metal."

"Who cares?" Kyrton blocked the pole with his sword. When he pulled it out, he pulled the stick with it. He grabbed it and threw it back to Attlin, who nodded his thanks. Again Attlin came at Kyrton with the stick and knocked Kyrton down. Kyrton then put his sword out in front of him to keep Attlin away until he got back up. He then swung wide and Attlin hit him in the stomach. Kyrton threw his sword, which sliced the side of Attlin's arm.

"Stop for a minute." They both turned and saw Mr. Cert standing to the side. "You both fight very well, but there seems to be some tension. That was quick thinking to use your pole to knock Kyrton off his feet, Attlin. And Kyrton, you were smart to use your sword to block any of Attlin's attacks while you got back up.

"I don't think it was the smartest move to throw your sword. It may have hit him, but after that you would have been without a weapon for the moment. And Attlin, when you saw Kyrton coming towards you, instead of countering you just waited. Next time use his predictability to your advantage. I'll let you continue now, but try not to cause each other too much pain. And I know I've said to keep bloodshed to a minimum in this class or I'll be out of a job and you'll have to find a new sixth hour class." Mr. Cert left them.

"He gave us some good advice," Attlin said.

"Oh whatever," Kyrton remarked. "Let's just finish this."

When the class was over, everyone headed back to the class on their own. The seven changed and headed quickly to the bus. They took their seats and breathed deeply. Grim began asking Eline how her practice went, while Rystan talked to Kyrton about practice.

"So you were partnered with Eline?" Kyrton asked.

"Yeah. It was fun, but I think I'll be glad when everyone's back to normal. What about you? Who was your partner?"

"Attlin." Rystan turned to Attlin, who was sitting behind them. "You two were partnered together?"

"Yes. It was an exhausting battle," Attlin told her.

"Yeah, but in the end I won," Kyrton said.

"No one wins Kyrton," Rystan teased him. She noticed the way Attlin was holding his arm. "What happened to your arm Attlin?"

"Kyrton got a good hit in with his sword." Rystan turned to Kyrton.

"Did you forget about Mr. Cert's rule of no bloodshed?"

"The rule is actually keeping bloodshed to a minimum," Kyrton corrected her. When she continued to stare at him in disbelief he added, "I was only protecting myself from the wrath of Attlin's pole." Rystan smiled. They continued talking the whole ride back. At the orphanage, there was a van parked out front.

"What do you think is going on?" Eline asked to no one in particular.

"Let's go find out," Preston said. They walked in and saw some boy sitting outside Wilkan's office. He looked up when they walked in.

"You guys live here?" he asked them.

"We wouldn't be here otherwise," Kyrton answered him.

"Who are you?" Grim asked.

"Travis. I'm the new kid that transferred from another orphanage."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Grim. This is Kyrton, Attlin, Xander, Eline, Preston, and Rystan." Travis merely nodded to each as their name was said.

"It will take me a while to remember all those." Wilkan came out of his office, along with someone else.

"He'll be fine here, don't you worry," Wilkan was saying to the other man. The man looked happy.

"Good luck Travis." The man walked out and the drove away in the van.

"Well, it's nice to have you here Travis," Wilkan told him. "I see you've already met some of the orphans staying here. I would suggest finding a different group of friends to hang out with. These seven here are trouble makers."

"I've always been more of a trouble maker myself," Travis told him with a smile. Wilkan looked shocked.

"Well, chose your friends wisely. Preston, show Travis to the empty room on the second floor." Wilkan walked back into his office and shut the door.

"So you all are trouble makers? I think I've found my group of friends." Grim showed him to his room while everyone else made their way to Attlin's room.

"Looks like Grim's found a new friend," Eline said.

"Yeah, but will he tell him about Cloud?" Xander asked. The room went silent for a minute. They heard Grim and Travis coming down the hall. Grim opened the door and walked in.

"Okay, it's way too quiet in here. What happened?" Grim asked.

"Travis, would you step outside for a minute?" Preston asked. "It has nothing to do with you; we just need to speak to Grim about something." Travis closed the door after he left.

"What was that for?" Grim asked again.

"Did you tell him anything about Cloud?" Preston asked.

"No. If he's going to hang out with us though, we should tell him soon." Preston was still thinking and looking at Grim when Travis knocked on the door.

"You guys done talking about me yet?" Travis asked.

"Yeah, we're done," Xander told him. Travis came in. "Have you ever played any Final Fantasy games?"

"I've played eight and ten. Why?"

"Just wondering," Xander said.

"Hey, I hate to break up this wonderful meeting, but we all have chores and homework to do," Eline said.

"Why do you guys have chores? Do all the orphans here have chores they have to do?" Travis asked.

"No, just us. We have them because we're 'trouble makers,'" Grim told him. "Since you're here now, are you going to go to the Academy?" Travis nodded. "Cool. See you in the morning."

Travis said good-night and headed off to his room. The rest of them left to do their chores. When everyone was done, they all met up at the attic. When Xander finished his chores, he unlocked the attic. They found Cloud practicing with his sword. He stopped after a few minutes, when he noticed them.

"Having fun?" Kyrton asked.

"It's the only thing I can do while I'm up here," Cloud told him.

"So where were your friends when you followed Reno here?" Xander asked.

"Most were back in their hometowns. The only one that was with me at the time was Vincent. I'm not sure what happened to him."

"Do you think he could have followed you without you knowing it?" Eline asked.

"I doubt it. Why are you keeping me here?" he asked them suddenly.

"You wouldn't really fit in out there," Grim said.

"I should be looking for Reno. You don't know what he could be doing out there right now."

"That may be, but for now you need to stay here," Preston told him.

"What was that van doing outside here today?" Cloud asked again.

"A new orphan was dropped off, that's all," Preston answered. "We need to get back before Wilkan knows we're gone, so we'll see you tomorrow." They went down to their rooms.

"I'm so glad it's finally Friday," Kyrton said.

"Yeah. It'll be nice to have a break from the battles in WT," Rystan said.

"How did your fight with Eline go?" Xander asked her.

"It was fine. I won," she added with a smile.

"Yeah right, I totally beat you," Eline argued.

"Whatever. I had the most points," Rystan told her. The others watched this argument for a while before eventually going to bed. They stopped fighting when they realized they were alone.

"See you in the morning," Eline said.

The weekend passed quickly. They got to the third disc of Final Fantasy VII, and started a game of Final Fantasy VIII. Then Monday came. Grim helped remind Travis it was time to get up by dropping a water balloon on his face in the morning. Grim quickly ran out of the room and Travis chased after him.

"You'll regret that!" Travis yelled. He rounded the corner, but didn't see Grim. "I'll find you." He walked down the hallway and rounded the corner.

"That was weird," Grim mumbled. He came out from behind a plant. "It was still pretty obvious where I was hiding." He walked back to his room and finished getting ready. He met Travis down by the bus.

"You'll pay for that," Travis told him.

"Why didn't you just tackle me in the hallway before?" Grim asked him.

"You weren't in the hallway," Travis said. They got on the bus and continued to argue the whole way over. Eline interrupted at one point when they were close to the Academy.

"Do you have your class schedule?" she asked Travis. He handed it to her. "Every one of your classes has one of us in it. You even have WT with us."

"WT?"

"Weapons training," Grim told him. "So you have calc honors first. Preston can show you to that class. Then he'll show you to history with Eline and Rystan. Then go with Rystan to chemistry. From chemistry you'll go to lunch, and after that you can go with me to humanities. Then there's WT. Mr. Cert will have to find you a partner before we start."

"Okay, you lost me after calculus honors. Can you start over again?" Travis asked. Grim sighed dramatically. He gave up and just told him what to do for his first class.


	8. Chapter 7

When they arrived at the Academy, Travis went with Preston and Attlin to calculus honors. The teacher filled him in while the rest of the students worked. Then he followed Preston to history where the same thing happened. When he went to chemistry with Rystan though, the teacher made Travis talk in front of the class. Then he made Travis partners with Rystan for the experiment.

"So we have to work with these elements, heat them, and then write out all these different kinds of equations for them?"

"Pretty much," Rystan told him. At lunch she was still trying to explain the equilibrium and rate expressions, but eventually gave up. "Just find a creative way to pass the class." He smiled and nodded.

"So after lunch I go to humanities with you, right?" Travis asked Grim.

"Yeah, and Kyrton too. The teacher will probably put you in the empty seat behind me, so don't worry." Sure enough, the teacher did seat Travis behind Grim. When the rest of the class was writing an essay, he brought him up to date on what they had been studying. Once that class was over, the three of them headed to weapons training.

"So this is our new student?" Mr. Cert asked. He continued when Grim nodded. "Well Travis, everyone is switching partners right now, but this is their last week. For now, just stay with Grim and whoever his partner is. I'm sure Grim will fill you in on what we do in this class." He moved off to look at the pairs.

"Mr. Cert is the coolest teacher I've met so far," Travis commented while following Grim and Garrett into the forest.

"Yeah. All we do is learn how to use our weapons to attack our opponent and defend ourselves. Do you have a weapon with you?"

"Actually I do. I always carry ninja stars on me, just out of habit." Travis mainly watched Grim fight Garrett and listened to what Mr. Cert told them after he had watched them for a while. When everyone had heard from Mr. Cert they headed back to the building. They ran to the bus and barely made it before it left them. They sat in their seats and caught their breath.

"Do you guys always come this close to missing the bus?" Travis asked once he got his breath back.

"Yes," Grim told him. "The bus driver would love to leave us here and get us in trouble with Wilkan." They talked for a while. Then suddenly the bus driver slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone into the back of the seat in front of them.

"What was that for?" Kyrton shouted. All the others on the bus shouted similar phrases.

"Everyone stay calm and stay seated. And shut up!" the bus driver told them. Preston and Xander looked out the front window.

"Doesn't that look like Seifer? From Final Fantasy VIII?" Xander asked.

"I think we should head outside," Preston said. They got up, and were quickly followed by the other six. "Open the door," Preston told the bus driver. The driver decided not to argue. They stepped outside and faced Seifer.

"What are you doing here Seifer?" Xander asked.

"Who are you?" Seifer asked back. He looked them over and laughed. "Not that is matters."

"Answer the question!" Kyrton shouted. Seifer looked at him. He charged straight towards Kyrton, giving him barely enough time to jump out of the way, causing Seifer to hit the bus. The bus driver had apparently had enough because he floored it and drove away.

"Just great," Rystan muttered. "He left us again." Seifer laughed at them.

"Since you seem to have nothing else to do, perhaps you will answer my questions," Seifer said.

"Why would we do that?" Grim asked.

"Because if you don't you won't enjoy the result," Seifer told him. Preston leaned over and whispered something to Xander before Seifer noticed. The message quickly passed between all eight of them, but Seifer noticed it now. "What are you all whispering to each other?" Instead of answering, they split apart and ran into the forest. "You think you can get away from me that easily?" He laughed as he followed in the direction Grim had taken off in. When he couldn't find Grim, he continued in the direction of the others.

After another minute, Grim came out from behind a tree. _That was weird. He looked right at me, but didn't see me. Just like with Travis this morning. I wonder . . ._ He went off and found Eline hiding nearby.

"You okay?" She nodded. "Let's see who else we can find, without running into Seifer." They walked slowly and quietly. A short distance away Kyrton ran into them.

"Why are you running?" Eline asked.

"Trying to get away from Seifer," he told her. "Where are the others?"

"Don't know," Grim told him. "I think we need to find them and get away from Seifer though." Kyrton walked with them. Next they found Attlin and Rystan.

"I found Attlin and we decided to look for the rest of you guys," Rystan said. They walked a little farther and heard what sounded like battle sounds. They came to a small clearing where they saw Xander, Preston, and Travis fighting Seifer. "What kind of weapon is that?" Rystan asked loudly. Travis heard her.

"It's a gun blade," he told her. Xander was trying to get his whip around the sword, but failing. Travis continued throwing ninja stars at Seifer. They were aimed perfectly, but for some reason they kept missing him. Xander was finally able to get behind Seifer and use his whip to get the sword out of his hand.

"You actually think you can beat me?" Seifer asked. He laughed. "Since you aren't going to answer my questions, I'll leave you with a warning. The next time we meet won't be as pleasant for you." He ran off and left them.

"Well that was interesting," Kyrton said.

"I think we should go before he comes back," Preston said. "We're going to be late as it is."

"How the heck did that happen?" Travis asked.

"It's a long story," Kyrton said.

"It seems to me like we have a while before we get back to the orphanage," Travis said. "Feel like filling me in?" Grim looked at Preston.

"Might as well," Preston told him. Grim smiled.

"You've played Final Fantasy, so you know some of the characters," Grim began. "I'm sure you know who Cloud is from VII. You've probably heard of ShinRa and the Turks too, right?" Travis nodded, so Grim continued. "Okay, well about a week ago we got into a battle with the Turk named Reno. Then Cloud appeared. And actually the week before that we got into a battle with a ShinRa machine. But back to Cloud. Since we had no idea how he got here, he came with us back to the orphanage. He's still there, and he can't leave until we figure out how to send him back. Reno is still here as far as we know, and now Seifer is here too. We bought the games and we're playing through them so we'll know which character it is if any more show up."

"Let me get this straight," Travis stopped Grim. "You expect me to believe that Final Fantasy characters, _video game_ characters, are coming to life and appearing in our world?" When Grim nodded, Travis burst out laughing.

"We should start walking back to the orphanage now," Xander said. They began walking, but no one was talking much. Eventually a few conversations started.

"How did your battle with Attlin go?" Rystan asked Eline.

"It was okay, but tiring as usual. What about you and Preston?"

"He's pretty good with his mace, so I had to do a lot of jumping. I barely got a chance to hit him." Eline laughed.

"Have you fought Grim yet?" Eline asked her. When Rystan nodded, she added, "I hate his daggers."

"Don't you have your own little surprises?" Rystan nodded at her coat. Eline smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about." They talked the rest of the time. They got to the orphanage shortly after six. It was already dark. Wilkan was waiting for them at the door.

"And what's your excuse for being later this time?" he asked them.

"We got into a ba-" Grim elbowed Travis in the stomach.

"The bus left us," Preston said.

"Do your chores immediately," Wilkan told them. "Do a good job the rest of this week and it may be the last week you have to do them." He walked back to his office. They made their way to the equipment closet.

"Why didn't you tell him about Seifer?" Travis asked finally.

"You think he'd believe us?" Attlin asked.

"Even if he doesn't, who cares," Travis argued. The light in the closet flickered and went out. "Great."

"Come with us," Xander told him. They went up to the attic and Xander unlocked it. When everyone was inside they shut it. Travis saw someone else already in the attic.

"Who's that?" the person asked.

"This is Travis," Preston told him. "Travis, this is Cloud." Kyrton turned on the lights and they saw the look of shock on Travis's face. He stood there staring at Cloud for a whole minute before speaking.

"Nice try guys," he said. "Who is he really?" Now Cloud was the one that looked confused.

"Travis, we're telling you the truth," Xander explained. "We told you about the battle with Reno and how Cloud appeared. This is Cloud." Travis stopped smiling.

"I've got homework to do." Travis walked out.

"Guess he'll take a little more convincing," Grim said.

"For now let's just get our own homework and chores done," Xander said. They went downstairs and finished their chores before they started on their homework. They didn't see Travis until the next morning. They all averaged about five hours of sleep, so they had to drag themselves on the bus. Travis ignored them all except Grim.

"Why so tired?"

"Didn't get enough sleep. I'll be awake by second hour," Grim said. The ride was quiet. Travis ignored those in his classes. He was surprised to be beaten to lunch by Rystan though.

"How did you get here before me when you had to go back to class to get something?" he asked her. "You're not even out of breath!" She shrugged it off, but saw Xander look at her. Lunch ended and they headed off to class. Xander spoke to her when they got to weapons training.

"Did you teleport to lunch?" he asked her right away.

"I might have." He gave her a look. "So what! I'm tired of walking to lunch from where I am, and it's not like Travis would ever guess that I have that power." Mr. Cert came up so they split into their partners.

Travis again watched from the side as Kyrton and Grim fought each other. After a while they got him to join in the fight. Then they began asking him questions.

"So why do you insist we're lying about Cloud?" Kyrton asked.

"I know it's not true. Nothing like that is ever true!" He threw a ninja star and the talking stopped. The bus ride back was as quiet as the ride over. Travis continued to ignore the others. When they left him to go do their chores, Grim told them about his battle.

"Kyrton and I asked him if he believed us about Cloud during our battle. He told us no, but he was lying. I think he's hiding something else too."

"Like what?" Preston asked.

"I'm not sure. When we were in the equipment closet and Travis got a little upset, remember how the light went out? Maybe he has power too."

"It's possible, I suppose," Preston said, "but it seems unlikely." Everyone finished their chores and did their homework. Since they still had some time to kill before Wilkan came up, they gathered in Attlin's room and played Final Fantasy.

"Okay, who wants to play next?" Kyrton asked. Xander took over and everyone watched him play. They made commentary for the battles to make things interesting. An hour later they heard Wilkan coming. They quickly hid the games and PS2 before he walked in.

"What are all of you doing in here?"

"Just talking," Preston said.

"Get to bed, all of you." He waited until they were all in their rooms before leaving. The next day at lunch Travis was still only talking to Grim. Kyrton joined the conversation, but Travis didn't seem to mind. Eventually Grim began talking about Cloud.

"Why don't you believe us about Cloud?" Kyrton asked.

"There's no way that's really Cloud. It's just some person you got to dress up like Cloud."

"You're lying," Grim said. Travis looked at him. "You do believe us, but you won't admit it. Why?" Travis couldn't speak for a minute. The others had stopped talking and were now waiting to hear Travis's response.

"What makes you think you can read my mind?" Travis said finally. He got up and left the table. Since it was almost time to head to class anyway, Grim and Kyrton followed him. They caught up quickly.

"I didn't read your mind, I just was able to read your facial expressions," Grim told him.

"Even if I did believe you, that doesn't make it possible for that to be Cloud in the attic. It's just impossible."

"What if it was possible though?" Travis thought for a minute.

"For that to be possible would mean any number of things are possible, and that's not true. So therefore it's impossible for Cloud to suddenly exist in this world."

"But it is. You've seen him with your own eyes. You know it's true." They reached their classroom, so they stopped talking. Grim occasionally glanced at Travis, who seemed to be deep in thought the entire class period. The next chance he got to talk to Travis was on the way to weapons training.

"Maybe it is possible," Travis admitted.

"When we get to the orphanage I have a few more questions I want to ask you," Grim said before they started their next battle. When everyone arrived at the bus, they knew Grim had talked to Travis more. They could tell something was different. When they arrived at the orphanage, Grim and Travis immediately left the group.

"What do you think they're up to?" Eline asked.

"Who knows, but I do know that Grim is breaking through to Travis about Cloud," Preston told her. Wilkan walked up to them at that point.

"It seems that you all have been doing exceptionally well with your chores, so I've decided that you no longer need to do them." He left them without another word.

"Did he just say that we don't have to do chores any more?" Rystan asked.

"That's what it sounded like to me," Xander said.

"Score!" Kyrton shouted.

"Let's get upstairs before he comes back and changes his mind," Eline said. They went up to their rooms. Xander noticed that Kyrton seemed a little too happy. He watched Kyrton go to his room, so he decided to wait for whatever Kyrton had planned.

Rystan walked into her room and decided to start on her homework right away. She sat down on her bed and got out her notebook. It was then that she noticed something on the bed next to her. When she realized it was a spider she jumped out of the bed and bolted out her door. She looked at it from outside her room, but it wasn't moving. She went cautiously back to her bed and gave it a closer look.

"KYRTON!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She took off towards his room, but he was already prepared for her. When she barged in, she was immediately flipped upside down and hanging above the ground. "You'll pay for that! Now put me down!"

"No, I rather like you when you're hanging upside down. You seem less harmless now," he told her while laughing.

"If you don't put me down this instant you'll find yourself in a very cold place very quickly!" Kyrton was about to say something when he looked at the door behind her, and dropped her immediately.

"Hello Travis," Kyrton said a little nervously. Rystan turned around. Travis was standing in the doorway with many emotions on his face, among them shock and confusion.

"I thought I'd see what the screaming was for, but perhaps I shouldn't have," he said. He turned around and left.

"Now look what you did Kyrton," Rystan said.

"You know I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Well it did happen." Rystan left.


	9. Chapter 8

Grim wasn't far behind Travis when he left to see what caused someone to scream, but he missed the scene with Rystan and Kyrton. He met up with Travis as he was on his way back.

"So what happened?" he asked Travis.

"I don't know," was all he said. He continued walking and shut the door to his room. Grim went to Kyrton.

"What happened?"

"I put a toy spider on Rystan's bed and she freaked out like I knew she would. She came in here and I flipped her upside down. That was when Travis came in."

"He saw Rystan dangling in the air?" Kyrton nodded. Grim was still there when Preston walked in. He also wanted to know what happened, and Kyrton told him the same thing. Xander went to Rystan for an explanation.

"What made you scream earlier?" he asked as he entered her room.

"Kyrton put this fake spider on my bed." She pointed at the spider, which was still sitting on her bed in its original spot. Xander picked it up for her.

"I take it you're not a big fan of spiders?" He looked at the spider he held.

"No, and if you try something you'll find yourself somewhere unpleasant before you have a chance to do anything." He laughed and put the spider in his pocket.

"Is that you I heard then yelling at Kyrton shortly after?"

"Yeah, and Travis saw me hanging in the air too." Xander stopped smiling.

"He saw you?" Rystan nodded.

"He left right away."

"See you in the morning," was all Xander said before leaving. He walked to Travis's room, but ran into Grim in the hallway.

"So you heard about it too?" Grim asked.

"Yes. Is Travis in there?"

"Yeah. Don't you think we should let him sleep and talk to him in the morning?" Xander considered this.

"You should take your own advice."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean get to bed before Wilkan comes up to see what that scream was about." Grim took the hint and went in his room. Xander didn't knock on Travis's door but went to his own room and went to bed. In the morning everyone was up early and downstairs waiting for the bus when Travis came down. He looked immediately to Kyrton, but said nothing. They waited for someone else to say something first, and Xander did the honors.

"Sleep well?" he asked simply.

"Not really."

"Is something on your mind?"

"You could say that."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Like you don't already know." Travis was now standing with them, facing Xander. "What," he paused to think of the right way to say what he was going to say. "What's the deal with Kyrton?"

Dead silence.

"Kyrton is unique-"

"You can say that again," Travis interrupted. Xander was looking directly at Travis and not saying anything. Only Travis didn't know what he was doing.

"I say he is unique, and so are the rest of us, but I don't think we're the only ones." Xander looked again directly at Travis.

"What do you mean?" Travis was clearly nervous.

"I mean that yes Kyrton has the power of levitation. The other six of us also have different powers. I also think that there is someone else in this room with a special power, and I think it's you."

Again, dead silence. Travis looked at each person and then back to Xander. "What are you trying to say? You think I'm some kind of freak like you guys?"

"If you were like us, wouldn't you want to find someone who also has powers like you?" Preston asked. "Now you've found those people, us, but you're trying to hide your abilities." Travis opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He couldn't think of anything to say.

"Bus is here," he finally said. They walked on the bus and went straight to the back. Luckily no one sat close to them. "So what you're telling me is that I'm not the only freak in this world anymore?"

"Exactly," Grim said. "All seven of us have a special 'gift'."

"What are they?"

"For now we'll start with telling you, but some we can show you later on," Preston said.

"Okay, so who's first?"

"You already know what my power is," Kyrton said.

"I can tell if someone is in trouble close by," Eline said.

"I know if a person is lying or telling the truth," Grim told him. "I think I may also have the ability to become invisible too." Everyone was shocked by this, since it was new information to them too. Grim only smiled.

"I can read minds," Xander told him.

"My power is unfortunately not as cool as the others, but I can see for five miles when I want to," Preston said.

"I can teleport pretty much anything or anyone wherever I want," Rystan said.

"That usually ends up being me," Kyrton added. Travis now looked at Attlin.

"What about you?"

"Attlin is a genius when it comes to a computer or anything like that," Xander answered for him. "Now it's your turn."

"I can control electricity, in a way."

"Is that why the light bulb in the equipment closet burnt out suddenly when you were in there?" Grim asked.

"Yeah, I can't always control it when I get worked up."

"That might be a problem," Eline said.

"Yeah, but so does anyone else besides you seven know about these powers?" Travis asked.

"No. We try very hard to keep them a secret, especially from Wilkan," Grim explained.

"I can see why."

"So this means you believe us about Cloud, right?" Kyrton asked.

"Yes. Should we really be talking about this on the bus?" He looked at the other kids.

"Don't worry. They don't listen to us. Most people actually try to avoid us. They think we're weird, they just don't know how weird," Preston said with a smile. They talked all the way to the Academy. When they met at lunch, Travis brought up the subject again.

"So now can I see some of these powers you guys have? The ones that can be seen," he added.

"Wait until WT," Grim said. "You might be able to see a few there, but you'll probably have to wait until we get back to the orphanage." Travis looked disappointed.

"Okay, so do you know who your partner for today is?" Travis asked Grim.

"We're back to our normal partners today," Eline said. "We've been with everyone else now." When they all got to sixth period, Mr. Cert gave them some surprising news.

"I've decided to switch some of the partners permanently. I think the new partner will allow you to improve your skills more. Rystan and Eline, you two are now partners. Kyrton, you will become Grim and Travis's partner. I think things will work better that way." They switched spots and got to work. Mr. Cert showed them some new techniques and they tried them out. On the bus ride home Travis was the first to speak again.

"So now that we're going back, I can see your powers soon?"

"You have a one track mind don't you?" Rystan asked.

"Hey, it's not everyday you find out you aren't the only nut job on the planet." She smiled and went back to her own conversation. "But really, can I see some?"

"I'll be happy to demonstrate my powers for you," Kyrton said immediately.

"Oh no you don't," Rystan told him. "I know exactly how you plan to demonstrate those powers and I won't be held upside down again, or else he'll get to see how my powers work too." Travis laughed.

"Just let them argue," Grim whispered. "They do this all the time and it's best not to get involved."

"I'll take your word for that."

"Uh-oh." They all turned to Eline. Her hands were shaking.

"Should we stop the bus?" Preston asked.

"Yeah," she said. As Preston got up, Travis turned to Grim.

"What's going on? Why are her hands shaking?"

"Her hands start shaking when she knows someone's in trouble."

"Oh." The bus stopped, and they got off.

"Don't think I'm going to wait here for you," the bus driver said. "I'll leave you here!"

"Fine," Preston told him. He hopped off and the bus pulled away. "It's not like you haven't done it before."

"So where's the person?" Xander asked Eline.

"I'm not exactly sure, but they're very close." They walked into the forest a little ways and heard a noise. A moment later someone came running through the trees and knocked a couple of them to the ground. He stood up and looked at them, while the ones on the ground stood up.

"Sorry," he said without much emotion.

"Is this the guy?" Preston asked. Eline nodded.

"But this is impossible," Travis commented.

"That's what you said about Cloud too," Kyrton told him.

"What are you running from?" Grim asked.

"A machine," he said. As if to emphasize his small statement, a machine crashed through the forest.

"Is that the machine?" Eline asked.

"Yeah."

"I think we should run," Grim suggested. Everyone agreed quickly and ran into the forest. As they were running, they began to question the stranger.

"What's your name?" Grim asked.

"Squall."

"I'm Grim." Their conversation was cut short when a tree fell in their path of escape, and the machine climbed over it so it was now in front of them.

"How did that get in front of us without our knowing about it?" Rystan asked.

"I think the question is how to get it behind us again," Kyrton told her. The machine was suddenly lifted above the ground, and then slammed back into the ground. This shocked Squall, but everyone ran while they had the chance.

"How did the machine do that?" Squall asked.

"Ask questions later," Preston told him, "run now." They ran a few more minutes when the machine caught up with them again.

"How fast can this thing move?" Grim asked.

"Perhaps its time to start fighting it," Travis said. He pulled out a ninja star and shot it into what could only be called the chest of the machine. "Bull's-eye!"

"If this is the same kind of machine that we fought before, it's going to take a lot more than a ninja star to stop it," Xander said.

"You mean you've fought one of these things before?" Squall asked.

"Yes, and it wasn't fun," Rystan answered.

"There are more of us this time though," Kyrton said, "so we can defeat it quicker."

"Let's hope so," Eline mumbled. Everyone pulled out their weapons, but stopped when Rystan asked an interesting question.

"Should I send it somewhere else instead of us having to fight it?" she asked. No one answered right away.

"Then someone else would have to deal with it, and that would mean putting more people in danger. People who won't have any idea how to get rid of it," Preston told her.

"I guess that's a no then." She pulled out her sword. They moved out and surrounded the machine. It continued to face Squall. It seemed focused on him.

Kyrton made the first move. He flipped the machine in the air and dropped it on the ground again. The machine got back up, but Grim jumped on top of it. He put a few daggers in it and jumped off. A sudden burst of electricity surrounded the machine then, coming from the robot. When it stopped, the machine was still standing.

"How the heck do you kill this thing!" Travis shouted.

The machine lunged at Squall, shooting a grappling hook out of its arm at the same time. Squall jumped out of the way, but the hook caught him and dragged him back. Kyrton ran and swiped the rope with his sword. It didn't break. Rystan ran to help him. The rope continued to drag Squall closer. He too was trying to attack the rope with his sword, but his arms were pinned to his sides by it. The machine began shooting Kyrton and Rystan using its other arm. Rystan grabbed Kyrton and teleported them away just before the bullets got to them. The machine now had Squall in its grasp. It turned to leave.

"Maybe if we follow it we can find out where it came from," Attlin said.

"Sure. But if we find some sort of portal are just going to jump through it?" Grim asked. "That's like asking for trouble, more than we already have."

"Let's just follow it for now. That will give us time to decide what to do about Squall," Preston said. They trailed after the machine. It didn't seem to be aware of them, or didn't care if it did know. Either way they continued walking farther into the forest, towards a mountain.

"If we do come to some sort of portal, I could go through," Rystan told Xander quietly. "If there was trouble, all I'd have to do is teleport myself back here."

"I'll think about it." They continued walking.

After a little longer, the machine stopped. It seemed to be doing something, and dropped Squall to do it. It still had a rope around him, so he couldn't get away. Kyrton and Rystan snuck up behind the machine and began again to cut away at the rope. They almost had it when the machine began winding the rope into its arm again. Kyrton quickly jumped back, but Rystan was determined to cut it before it got to the machine.

"Are you crazy?" Kyrton asked her. "Let's go!"

"Go with him, I can handle myself," Squall told her. She didn't listen to them. She continued to focus on the rope. Then something strange happened. A light began to glow from somewhere ahead of the machine. It walked towards the light. Rystan was still trying to cut through the rope that had Squall, so she had to walk with the machine as it went. Kyrton ran back up to help her out. Travis sent a small wave of electricity through the rope, but that ended up shocking Squall. The machine was almost to the light. It was so bright Kyrton and Rystan could barely see what they were doing.

"We need to get out of here!" Kyrton yelled.

"And leave Squall to go somewhere with this machine? I don't think so!" Kyrton tried to drag her away, but she wouldn't budge.

"Get out of there you guys!" Preston called. Suddenly the light disappeared. So did the machine, Squall, Kyrton, and Rystan. They were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" Attlin asked.

"Who knows? Hopefully they'll be all right with the three of them," Xander said.

"We need to get back to the orphanage or _we_ won't be all right," Grim said.

They made their way back. When they got there, they were late. They tried to sneak in through the back, but Wilkan was waiting by their rooms. He sent them to do some chores as punishment, but luckily it was only for one night. While they worked they talked some more about what happened with the light in the forest.

"You think they went to the Final Fantasy world?" Attlin asked.

"It would make sense, but yet it still seems impossible," Preston said. "That would mean that those worlds actually existed. But then that makes me wonder how the Japanese came up with those games. Surely they couldn't have known those worlds were real."

"Maybe they did, but whatever they know, Rystan and Kyrton aren't here anymore," Xander spoke up.

"And it won't take Wilkan long to notice either," Grim announced.

"Do you always have to be the one to voice the bad news?" Eline asked him. They went to sleep and even went to the Academy the next morning without Rystan or Kyrton. Eline partnered up with Grim and Travis, since their partners weren't there.

"Didn't Rystan say she could teleport herself back?" Preston asked Xander during class.

"Yeah, but who knows if her powers even work over there," Xander said. On the way home nothing happened, much to the delight of the bus driver.

"None of you are planning on pulling any stunts today, are you?" he asked them.

"No," Preston told him. They rode in silence. At the orphanage they did their homework and played Final Fantasy, but they were all wondering what was happening with Rystan and Kyrton.


	10. Chapter 9

Kyrton pulled Rystan out of the way just in time. The bullets missed and they were now protected by a few trees. After they passed through the light, they had arrived in another forest. They weren't even sure they had really left West Virginia, until they arrived. The machine had turned towards them, but by this time they had cut through the rope. Squall was free and ready to get rid of this machine once and for all. When the machine realized Squall was free, it had turned and fired at the three of them. That's when they ran for cover.

"So what now?" Kyrton asked.

"Why did you two follow me?" Squall asked.

"It was her stubbornness that caused it," Kyrton commented.

"Sorry, but I thought you'd be happy to have us help you get away from that machine." Rystan replied.

"And I told you that I would be fine," Squall said. The conversation stopped as the machine launched another round of bullets at them. When they came out of hiding to fight the machine, they found that the machine was gone and someone else was standing in its place.

"Who are you?" Squall asked. The man laughed.

"You must have been the ones that came through the portal," he said. "Otherwise, you would know who I am."

"Then answer the question!" Rystan shouted.

"No need to yell. I can hear you just fine. My name is Tseng, and I think you need to take a little trip with me. My boss is very interested in meeting you."

"I'm sure he is," Kyrton commented. Tseng then brought his gun up and pointed it directly at Kyrton.

"You will come with me," Tseng said. They had no choice. They went with Tseng and ended up at the ShinRa building.

"This looks uncomfortably familiar," Rystan whispered. Kyrton nodded in agreement. They took the elevator up many floors. When they stepped out, both Kyrton and Rystan recognized where they were. They walked up the stairs and stood staring at Rufus Shinra.

"Welcome," he said. "Thank you Tseng." Tseng nodded and left. "Please, sit." Kyrton and Squall moved to sit down, but Rystan stayed standing.

"What do you want with us?" Rystan asked.

"Patience, my dear, patience."

"I don't have any patience. I want answers!" Rufus walked over to her. Without warning he slapped her across the face.

"I told you to have patience." He pushed her into a chair and walked back behind his desk. "I think you need to calm down before I talk to you." He pressed a button, and a few minutes later Tseng walked back in. "Please escort each of these people to a cell," Rufus said. Tseng nodded and they walked back into the elevator. They stepped out on another floor and they were each shoved into a separate room.

"What do you want with us?" Rystan asked.

"You'll find out when Rufus decides to tell you," Tseng told her before shutting the door.

Rystan looked around her room. There was only a cot, nothing else. She sat down to think about what to do. _I can't teleport myself back without Kyrton and Squall. I could try going to each of their rooms, but I don't want the Turks to find out about my powers and they're probably watching me._ With nothing else to do, she fell asleep. Kyrton and Squall were doing the same. The next morning theywere allwoken up by Tseng. He brought them back to Rufus.

"Did you all sleep well?" he asked politely. All he received were three glares. "Very well then. I assume you would like to know why I've brought you here. First off, I would like to know your names."

"Kyrton."

"Rystan."

"Squall."

"Very good. Now to why you are here. Quite recently I found some sort of, portal you could say, into another world. That world was yours." He looked at Kyrton and Rystan. "I found it because one of my machines suddenly disappeared one day. When I searched for it on my computers here, I couldn't find it. So I sent Reno to the last place on my records that it had been. He came back and told me about the portal there. I sent him through it to see where it led, and hopefully find my machine. He came back a few days later and told me about some teenagers he had met. I told him that he was to try to bring them to me, so I could get the answers myself."

"What answers?" Kyrton asked.

"I'm getting to that. I never actually sent Reno back through the portal to bring you here. Instead I sent another machine, one that was programmed slightly different. It was only able to bring three of you here though. As for the answers I want, I'll start with the simplest one. What caused that portal?"

"We don't know," Rystan answered. "We were just as surprised as you to find a machine from your world in ours."

"Reno reported that in your battle with him, you whispered among yourselves that he looked like someone from some game of yours. Tell me, how did you know of our world?"

"In our world, there's a game called-" Kyrton never finished his sentence because Rystan interrupted him.

"Why should we tell you?" she asked Rufus.

"Because Rystan, if you don't, I can kill all your friends." She and Kyrton both fell silent thinking about that. Squall finally spoke up at this point.

"The portal can only take us to one place, so why not go there yourself?"

"I have a company to run and other responsibilities here. I wouldn't want to risk getting myself killed without anyone to take over in my absence. Now, tell me how you knew of our world."

"And if we don't? What then?" Kyrton asked. Rufus looked at Kyrton, and then to Rystan.

"If you don't tell me what you know, then I'll have Tseng kill Rystan." Kyrton looked at Rystan, then back at Rufus. He knew he meant it.

"We don't have to tell you anything," Rystan said suddenly. "You could kill us, but then you have to go get more of our friends to get the information we have. And if they don't talk, you'll kill them and you'll be out of people and you'll never know what we know." Rufus looked at her.

"You bring up a good point. If I kill you I can't get the information out of you, but I don't have to kill you to make the others talk." Rystan looked confused. Rufus walked back to his desk and pushed a button. As before, Tseng came in.

"What are you going to do?" Kyrton asked.

"Tell me what you know about our world and the portal and she'll remain safe. Tell me nothing, and I just can't say what Tseng will do to her." Kyrton looked from Rufus, to Rystan, to Tseng, and then back to Rufus.

"There's a game we play in our world and it portrays you, Cloud and his friends, and Sephiroth. It's just about your lives. We control Cloud in the game and make his decisions, which affect the outcome of the game." Rufus was listening intently. "We didn't know about the portal to your world, but we met up with your machine and Reno. Then when we fought the last machine you sent after us, the three of us followed it into the portal."

"Is that all?" Rufus asked.

"That's everything I know." Rufus turned to the window and thought over what he'd just heard.

"So you know who Cloud is from this game of yours?"

"Yes," Kyrton responded.

"Have you ever met Cloud?" Kyrton looked at Rystan, silently asking her if he should tell Rufus. Rystan shook her head no, but she made it as slight as possible so Tseng wouldn't notice.

"No." Rufus turned back around.

"Reno told me that in his battle with you he left when Cloud appeared. Therefore I know that you lied to me. Tseng." Rufus walked behind his desk and sat down. Tseng walked over to Rystan and pulled her up by her hair.

"Ow, let me go!" she screamed. Tseng only dragged her towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Kyrton asked.

"I said that if you lied to me she might get hurt. You lied to me, so Tseng is only doing what I told him to do."

"What is he going to do to her?" Tseng closed the door when he had Rystan down the stairs and out of the room. Rufus merely shrugged. "You don't know?"

"My Turks have their ways, and I don't question them." Suddenly Rystan appeared back in the room. "How did you get here?" Rufus asked. He was so surprised he was standing. Rystan said nothing. She grabbed Kyrton and Squall, and they all disappeared. They reappeared in the forest by the portal. It wasn't there.

"Isn't this where the portal should be?" she asked.

"Maybe it isn't always around. Squall isn't from this world, so maybe it moves between worlds," Kyrton suggested. Rystan grabbed each again and concentrated. They reappeared in the forest between the orphanage and the Academy.

"Oh, by the way, thanks," Kyrton said.

"You're welcome. Now Rufus knows about my powers, but hopefully he'll leave us alone."

"I doubt it," Squall said. Rystan and Kyrton looked at him. "You should get back so no one will know you've been gone."

"Wait, why don't you tell us how you got here?" Kyrton asked.

"Kyrton, let's wait until we're with everyone else so he only has to tell the story once," Rystan told him. He agreed and they headed towards the orphanage. Rystan was the first to notice the time.

"They just finished lunch. We wouldn't get there in time to catch the bus, and even if we did how would we explain where we had been?"

"Good point," Kyrton said. "And we would have to try to explain Squall too." They talked a few minutes more before deciding on a new plan.

The orphans had just come back from the Academy. Rystan and Kyrton were still missing and it was only a matter of time before Wilkan noticed. They finished up their homework for the weekend and decided to play some Final Fantasy. They stopped after a while and finished putting away the game when they heard someone coming down the hall.

"Xander, is it Wilkan?" Preston asked. Xander closed his eyes, then jumped up and ran out the door. Everyone just followed. They found Xander hugging Rystan and then dragging her into the room, followed by Kyrton and Squall.

"What happened to you guys?" Xander asked.

"Hold on and let us catch our breath," Rystan told him.

"Has Wilkan noticed our lack of appearance yet?" Kyrton asked.

"Not yet," Grim said. "Hopefully he won't, now that you're back."

"So tell us what happened after you disappeared into that portal," Preston said. Rystan told them about everything that went on in the ShinRa building. When she finished, she asked them what had gone on since they had left.

"Not much," Attlin said. "No one seemed to notice that you two weren't here all day."

"That's a relief," Kyrton said. Then they heard more steps outside the hallway. This time they knew exactly who it was. They quickly stuffed Squall in the closet and shut the door.

"What's going on in here?" Wilkan asked.

"Nothing," Grim replied. "We're just hanging out." Wilkan stared at every one of them. When he spotted Rystan and Kyrton he pointed at them.

"You two, come with me." They followed him out into the hall, down the stairs, and into his office.

"Where have you two been all day?" he asked.

"No where," Rystan replied.

"What have you been doing?"

"Nothing," Kyrton said. Wilkan looked at both of them.

"Off seeing your girlfriend or boyfriend?"

"Right, that's it," Kyrton said sarcastically.

"Or just off together, by yourselves, doing who knows what with each other?" Both looked at him appalled.

"That's just wrong," Rystan said. "Look, if you're done suggesting stupid things, can we get back to our friends?"

"Fine." They headed back up the stairs and found everyone still sitting in Attlin's room. Squall was out of the closet.

"Shouldn't we bring him up to the attic with Cloud?" Kyrton asked.

"That's what I just told them," Preston said. They made their way up, Kyrton filling everyone in about what Wilkan had said to them. They waited for Xander to unlock the attic door and followed him inside. Cloud turned around and looked at Squall.

"Who's he?" Cloud asked.

"Cloud, this is Squall. Squall, Cloud," Preston said. "You two are going to stay up here." Squall only nodded. Everyone walked back downstairs, leaving Squall with Cloud.

"I wonder if Cloud will be able to get Squall to talk much," Kyrton wondered.

"He seldom talked even in the game, let alone real life where he's with a bunch of strangers," Grim said.

"Preston!" Everyone turned around to see Wilkan standing at the end of the hall.

"What?" Preston asked.

"I want to see you in my office now." Preston followed Wilkan down the stairs.

"What could Wilkan want with Preston?" Eline asked out loud. Everyone just shrugged, not knowing what Wilkan wanted with Preston. They made their way to their bedrooms. After about an hour Preston came back up, and everyone was gathered in Attlin's room to talk to Preston about what Wilkan had said.

"He told me that since I'm 19, I'm too old to stay at the orphanage anymore. He said the only legal way for me to stay would be to work here, and Wilkan didn't give me that option. He's already found me a job and an apartment to stay in nearby where I'll work. I'm leaving tomorrow guys."

"What!" everyone shouted.

"He can't do that to us!" Eline said.

"What kind of person is Wilkan! Splitting us up like this!" Kyrton yelled.

"I don't have a choice. He's right in the fact that I am too old for the orphanage. But hopefully I can visit you guys all the time. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish my classes, not even WT."

"This can't be legal!" Grim shouted.

"It is," Preston told him. "Look, let's get some sleep. You guys need to anyways. I have to pack still." Everyone went to their rooms and went to bed. Preston packed what little he had to bring with him and then also fell asleep. The next morning the seven of them were there to say goodbye to Preston. No one was anywhere near as happy as Wilkan looked.

"It's like he's got something personal against each of us," Grim said.

"Like I said, I'll visit you guys," Preston told them all.

"You better, or we'll kidnap you and stuff you with Cloud and Squall," Eline threatened.

"Yeah, and I have the means to do it," Rystan added. After Preston said goodbye to each person, he got in the cab and drove off.

"All of you get back upstairs now," Wilkan said. "I don't want you lingering out here where someone could see you." Grim muttered a few curses as they walked back to the gym.

"So what now?" Eline asked.

"We're one person short," Grim said.

"Thanks for stating the obvious Grim," Kyrton told him.

"Cool it guys. Hopefully Preston will be able to visit us," Xander said calmly. "If not, then we'll take turns visiting him."

"As Eline put it before though, what now?" Rystan asked.

"We do something to get our minds off Preston's departure," Travis said. They played some volleyball, but no one was into it. Eventually they headed up to Attlin's room to play some Final Fantasy, but somehow ended up going to the attic instead.


	11. Chapter 10

"What are you doing up here?" Cloud asked them.

"Preston left," Grim said. Travis smacked him upside the head.

"Way to try not to think about it," he told him. Grim just shrugged.

"Where did he go?" asked Cloud.

"Wilkan sent him away," Xander told him, and explained why Preston had to leave.

"Who's the leader now?" Cloud wanted to know. They all looked around at each other, not sure of who to be the leader. In the end everyone was looking at Xander.

"Guess that means it's me," Xander commented when he realized who everyone was staring at.

"Wait, if Preston isn't living in the orphanage anymore, maybe he can keep Cloud and Squall with him," Rystan suggested. She waited for someone to respond.

"It could work, but Preston would still have to be careful," Attlin told her.

"And just how exactly are we going to get Cloud and ever-so-silent Squall out without getting ourselves caught?" Grim asked.

"You just can't stay away from bringing up the downside to something, can you?" Attlin bugged Grim.

"Well someone has to make sure we think of everything," Grim shot back.

"But it doesn't always have to be you does it?"

"No one else is going to!"

"Hey, it is a good question to think about," Xander interrupted. "So you two cool it." They continued to glare daggers at each other, but remained silent. Xander then continued. "We will need to be careful, but first we have to get in touch with Preston. He may or may not be able to keep Cloud and Squall. Once we know for sure, if it's a yes, we'll go from there to figure out how to get them out."

"But if we practice getting them out now, if Preston takes them, we'll already know what to do," Kyrton said.

"Yes, but if we get caught, who knows what will happen. And then Preston will never get to decide if he can keep Cloud and Squall."

"So what happens if we run into Reno or Seifer or some other bad thing again?" Eline asked. "I mean, do we fight them, or will we be able to let Squall and Cloud out to fight them?"

"I don't know," Xander admitted honestly. "If we fight here, I think we would want Cloud and Squall with us. If we're at school or somewhere besides the orphanage, then we won't be able to get to them so we'll have to fight it on our own."

"But we don't have Preston anymore!" Grim shouted.

"I'm aware of that Grim, but we don't need him to win every battle. He's a huge help, but we can manage just fine without him." They decided to head back down to their rooms when they heard footsteps just under the attic door. They all held their breath and tried not to make any noise. A second later Wilkan's head popped through the opening.

"What are all of you doing up here?" Xander recovered first.

"Preston told us that he was worried he had forgotten his mace up here, so he wanted us to look for it. That's what we're doing up here."

"Hand over the key. Preston must have given you the key to this room."

"Preston didn't give us a key. The door was unlocked," Travis told him.

"Well come down out of there. I'm sure he didn't leave anything up there." While they all huddled around the exit to leave, Cloud and Squall hid. When everyone was out, Wilkan counted them. "I thought there were two more of you in there."

"You must have miscounted. It was dark in there so it would be a simple mistake," Kyrton said.

"Get to your rooms, it's getting late." He walked off. They all headed to Attlin's room to play some Final Fantasy VIII, and ended up playing past midnight and beating the game. Then they decided it was time to go to sleep. In the morning, they gathered again in the attic.

"Back so soon?" Cloud asked when they came in.

"We just wanted to talk to you again," Xander told him.

"Why are you keeping us here?" Squall asked.

"The mute speaks!" Grim shouted.

"Quiet Grim, we don't need Wilkan to find us up here again," Travis said.

"We were keeping you here in the beginning because we didn't know how you got here or how to get you back," Xander addressed Squall. "Now, we do know of a portal, and it once took you, Rystan, and Kyrton to Cloud's world. But we don't have any real way of getting there without having problems with Wilkan, we don't know where it is exactly so we'd have a difficult time trying to find it again, we don't know how long it's there for, or if it will even take you to the right world. Summed together, it's just too risky at this point."

"Too risky for you, you mean," Squall said.

"What are you talking about?" Xander asked him.

"What you said is true. There are a lot of risks involved and a lot of unanswered questions. But you aren't the one in a strange world with new people you've never seen before. I need to get back to my world. That portal took us to Cloud's world. That means there's a definite possibility that it could take me to mine. You may not be willing to risk it, but I am."

"And what happens if you end up in the wrong world?"

"I'll just go back through the portal into this world, wait a while until it must have changed worlds, and jump back in."

"You aren't going to be talked out of this, so I'm not going to try. At least wait until we can go with you though. I'm not saying you need us," Xander added when he saw the look on Squall's face, "but we want to be there, just in case." Squall thought about it, and then nodded in agreement.

"Fine."

"Can you wait a week? This is our last week of school for the year, so after this we'll have plenty of time to search for the portal with you."

"One week then."

"Is that all you came up here to talk about?" Cloud asked. Everyone had gotten comfortable during the previous conversation, and now they prepared themselves for another.

"No. I wanted to ask you and Squall a question, and I'm still going to ask, but it will be worded a little differently than I had originally planned. I was wondering if you would mind training us to fight better, since you know a lot more than we do."

"Not all of you use swords," Squall commented.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Grim said. Kyrton rolled his eyes.

"I mean," continued Squall, "how are we supposed to train with those that don't use swords?"

"In our class we had to train with all sorts of weapons," Eline said. "We can train better if it's not the same weapon we use, because we have to learn to move and think differently to avoid being injured."

"I'm open to it," Cloud said.

"I suppose I am too," Squall muttered.

"Good," Xander said.

"We should head downstairs before Wilkan comes looking for us," Travis suggested. They left the attic and headed to the gym to start another game of volleyball. Halfway through the game, Brett and Devon sauntered over. They watched a few serves before making any comments.

"Looks like you need some help Grim," Brett teased. "You can't hit anything out there. Maybe you should leave the games to the real athletes."

"Shut your mouth!" Grim yelled back.

"Oh, looks like I struck a nerve," he commented to Devon. "I think we should show them how volleyball is really played." Devon nodded.

"I'll go get the others while you tell them." Devon ran off while Brett walked on to the court. He grabbed the ball before speaking.

"Here are the rules: seven people on a team, so you all can play, and you play against my team of seven. Normal volleyball rules otherwise. Winning team . . ." Brett paused while he thought.

"Gets to pick the losing team's punishment," Travis finished for him.

"Perfect." While Brett talked privately with his team, that had arrived with Devon shortly before, Travis talked with the others.

"Are you crazy?" Attlin asked him.

"What?" Travis asked innocently enough.

"Don't act like you don't know what you just got us into," Grim told him. "You know perfectly well that we all can't play volleyball as well as you, and I'm sure everyone on Brett's team can."

"They probably won't play fair either," Eline commented.

"We can play by their rules," Travis said.

"We can't just outright cheat," Xander told him.

"We won't cheat, outright that is," Travis mumbled.

"Travis, do you realize what will happen when we lose!" Rystan asked him.

"Who says we're gonna lose?"

"Everyone here but you," Attlin told him. Travis only smiled and walked back onto the court. The others had no choice but to follow him on and hoped that they'd win the game.

"Play till 21?" Brett asked. Travis only nodded in response. "We serve." Brett let Devon serve first. Devon threw the ball up in the air and then slammed his fist on it to begin the game. The ball flew across the net and hit a surprised Attlin in the face.

"Sorry," Devon yelled sarcastically. "Our point." He served again. This time everyone was prepared for another attack serve, so Xander hit it back across the net. After a few more hits, it landed on Brett's side.

"Looks like that was our point," Travis said. Kyrton was already in the corner, so Travis let him serve. Kyrton hit it over, Brett hit it back. Eline and Grim went for it at the same time, so they ended up hitting each other and the ball hit the ground.

"That's what now, two to one?" Devon teased. Brett served this time, and it was headed for Rystan. She spiked it over the net, gaining another point to tie up the score. She threw it to Travis to serve. He served, but it was hit back to their side barely within the court. "That would be our point." Travis threw the ball back. Another serve and this time Eline hit it, without Grim getting in the way. Unfortunately it was hit back over and slammed into the back of Grim's head. He fell to the ground stunned, and decided to sit out for a while.

"Too bad, looks like you're one player short," Brett announced. His team laughed.

"That may be, but at least our team knows how to work together, instead of just running mindlessly after the ball," Travis shouted back. Brett only glared and served again. The game continued in this fashion, a player getting hurt every so often, while it looked like a mistake. When the points stood tied at twenty, only Travis, Xander, and Eline stood facing the whole of Brett's team.

"Winning point," Brett commented.

"Good luck," Travis retorted. It was Eline's serve. She hit the ball in the air towards Brett's side. He was able to hit it, and Travis hit it back. Someone else hit it again, and it hit Travis in the chest. Xander quickly hit it over the net while Travis made his way off the court. The ball was hit again, this time aimed at Xander. He was able to dodge, and Eline jumped to save the ball. It went over the net, but due to Eline's slide, she made her way off the court as well.

"Now it's only Xander left out there," Travis said.

"So unless one of us is able to join him again out there," Grim told Travis, "or gets up the guts to go back out there, it's up to Xander to make the winning point for us." Everyone watched as the ball made its final pass to Xander. He ran, jumped up, hit the ball, and landed out of the court. Luckily the ball was still in play. It hit Brett square in the face, but bounced off his face back over to the other side. Xander wasn't able to reach it in time to save the ball.

Final score: Brett's team 21, Xander 20. Game over.

"Let's see, what was the agreed upon prize for the winning team," Brett commented as the rest of his team made their way towards Travis and the others. No one said anything. They had hoped this wouldn't happen. Brett laughed at them. "Look at you, each trying to comfort your hurts. You all look so weak. The strongest of you is Xander, and even he couldn't stand up to us in the end." Brett was enjoying himself.

"So you won a little volleyball game," Grim retorted, "big deal." Brett only laughed again.

"I can't really think of a good punishment for all of you right now, so I'll have to think about it over the week. It's your last week of school, so you'll have plenty of time to deal with my punishment when you're out. Until then . . ." He walked out of the room with the rest of his team. Once they were gone, everyone turned to Travis.

"Okay, so we lost," Travis started. "I was wrong-"

"You were not only wrong, but now we have to worry about what punishment Brett is going to come up with for us!" Eline shouted.

"I'm sorry," Travis told her, "but we do have school tomorrow, not to mention this week is everyone's final in WT. We should rest." They made their way up to Attlin's room instead and finished what was left of their Final Fantasy VII game. After that they all went to bed early. Everyone that is, except Grim. He decided to take a walk before he slept. He had just made it out to the backyard when he heard some voices. He made himself invisible and crept a little closer. He saw Brett talking to Reno. _What the heck is going on! Why is Brett talking to Reno? Though it shouldn't surprise me that he's siding with Reno,_ he thought.

"Are you sure?" Reno asked Brett.

"Yes," Brett answered. "This is their last week of school, and then they're out for the summer. They'll be sitting around here with nothing to do, and no one to get in your way." Reno considered this.

"I'm sure Rufus will appreciate your information."

"Hey now," Brett said, not letting Reno leave so quickly. "Didn't you say something about getting a reward for all the information I've provided you with?" Reno faced Brett.

"You will, but you're not done working for Rufus yet. In fact, sometime soon you'll be coming with me and Rufus will present you with a once in a lifetime chance to become a Turk like me. But until then you have to be patient." Reno turned back around and left Brett standing there. Then Brett left and went back inside. Grim waited a minute before heading to his room, planning on telling everyone about what he'd heard in the morning.


	12. Chapter 11

Grim was the first one up the next morning. He was already sitting and waiting on the bus when everyone else reached the door.

"What got you up so early?" Xander asked.

"When we get moving I'll tell you," Grim said. Once everyone else was on the bus, they left for the Academy. They all turned towards Grim to hear what he was going to tell them. "After you all went to bed last night I took a walk."

"You took a walk?" Travis asked.

"Shut up and listen," Grim told them. He quickly summarized what he had overheard between Reno and Brett. No one said anything after he was done; they were all thinking.

"Should we try to stop Brett from going with Reno?" Eline asked.

"What can we do?" Xander told them. "Brett would never listen to us. And even if he did, we would have to deal with Reno and possibly Rufus."

"But at least then there wouldn't be another Turk to worry about," Rystan said. They talked the rest of the way to the Academy, but then split off for their classes. After 3rd hour they got together for lunch like always, discussing their classes.

"I still don't get how they expect us to remember everything for finals!" Grim yelled. Eline tried not to laugh.

"Maybe it's not that you need to remember everything," Kyrton explained slowly to make sure Grim would hear every bit of it, "but that you need to remember the most important stuff."

"Oh shut up Kyrton, I'm not stupid," Grim retorted. Kyrton only laughed.

"Sometimes we're just not sure of that," Travis teased.

"Well at least I can-" Grim stopped himself. _Almost talked about my powers out loud, most likely getting us into trouble and getting myself killed by Xander._ "At least I can pass my tests," he finished lamely. Travis only smiled, knowing what Grim almost said.

"So who has what next?" Travis asked. "I mean I know Grim, Kyrton, and I all have Humanities next, but what are some other classes?"

"I have Technological Developments," Attlin said.

"That doesn't surprise me," Travis commented.

"I have English III Honors," Rystan told him.

"English III," Eline added.

"And I have Literature Analysis," Xander said last.

"Why would you want to analyze literature?" Travis asked.

"It's just another class I take," Xander said offhandedly. It was time for their classes to start so they headed off. After their fifth hour class they met up again for Weapons Training.

"Yes, last class of the day!" Eline shouted. They walked in but didn't see Mr. Cert. Instead there was a lady no one recognized.

"Please don't tell me Mr. Cert isn't here," Rystan said.

"I'm sure he's just running a little late," Kyrton hoped.

"Good afternoon class," the woman said. Everyone directed their attention towards her. "I'm not your sub, I'm just watching over you until Mr. Cert arrives. He had to run an errand, but promised to be back in time for his sixth hour class. So talk quietly amongst yourselves while we wait." She stood their and watched them.

"What kind of errand could Mr. Cert have had to run in the middle of the school day?" Rystan asked.

"Who knows?" Xander answered. "Hopefully he gets back soon so he can tell us what our final is."

"We also have to tell him that Preston is no longer a part of this class so we'll have to rearrange the partners, again," Grim reminded him.

"I'll become Xander's partner, and Travis can stay with you," Kyrton told Grim.

"Guess that's settled then," Travis muttered. After a few more minutes Mr. Cert walked into the classroom. The other lady said something to him quietly, then left. Mr. Cert put the bag in his hand down and then faced them.

"Sorry I'm late," he began. "I had an errand that I had to get done for your finals this week. I know I haven't told you what to expect, but that's what this class has been about. Each day this week I will fight someone new, two people per day to get you all in. I will fight you one on one, and how well you battle me will decide your final grade in this class. And," he added, "I will not always be using the same weapon, so you'll have to be on your toes if you want to get a good grade. Now, since I got here late, I'll only do one battle today. Where's Preston?" He looked at the group of eight standing in front of him. Xander spoke up first.

"He's gone," he told Mr. Cert. "He got a job in Charleston and moved out of the orphanage over the weekend. He won't be coming back to school for finals." Mr. Cert looked at Xander and the rest.

"I see. I guess that means that Xander will be fighting me today. We'll be going by age, so you'll know what day you're fighting me." Xander grabbed his whip and stepped up. Mr. Cert in turn reached into the bag he had dropped earlier and pulled out a rifle. "Good luck," he told Xander. Xander only nodded, and waited for Mr. Cert to make the first move.

Mr. Cert slowly circled around, forcing Xander to move opposite him. Suddenly Mr. Cert fired at Xander. Xander moved out of the way, rolling off to the right. Everyone else moved to the far wall of the room to give the two more space to fight. Xander got up and faced Mr. Cert again. He fired again, only this time just to the side of Xander, hoping to hit him when he dodged. He did, but of course was only using blanks to avoid seriously injuring any students.

"Nicely done," Mr. Cert told him. "Since that shot would have taken you out of this battle had you been hit by a real bullet, we'll end it there. Xander, you did well for your final. Class isn't technically over yet, but since I have nothing left for you to do, you can all leave a little early."

"Thank you Mr. Cert," Xander said. He walked back to the others and they headed out to the bus. It was already there so they waited for the other orphans to arrive. The bus started and they began the ride home.

"That was some nice work dodging Mr. Cert," Rystan commented.

"Thanks," Xander said. "But those blanks hurt."

"Yes they do," Grim said. "I've been hit by enough thanks to Eline to know that."

"Hey, you deserve it," Eline told him.

"So if he's going by our age," Travis interrupted, "doesn't that mean I go tomorrow?"

"I know I'll go tomorrow," Kyrton said. "Hey Attlin, how old is Garrett?" Attlin thought for a minute.

"He's 17, only a few months older than me. So he'll go Wednesday with Grim. I'll go Thursday with Rystan, and Eline will be by herself on Friday."

"So I have to be the only one on Friday?" Eline asked.

"Why complain?" Rystan asked. "That means we'll get out of school as soon as you finish fighting Mr. Cert."

"True, but I just don't feel like being the only one to fight on Friday." When they arrived at the orphanage they went straight to their rooms. Each had enough homework to last them the rest of the evening. The next time they saw each other was the in the morning.

"Sleep well?" Travis asked everyone on the bus. No one really replied.

"I think we all wish we had had less homework so we would have had more time to sleep last night," said Grim finally. Travis only nodded. The rest of the ride was silent. At school they all waited until sixth hour to see how Travis and Kyrton would do against Mr. Cert.

"I'm glad to see you all here today," Mr. Cert greeted them. He then looked at Kyrton and Travis. "I was afraid you two wouldn't show up."

"Of course we showed up," Travis said. "Why wouldn't we?" Kyrton didn't look quite as eager to fight as Travis. He was older so he fought Mr. Cert first. The fight didn't take terribly long, mostly because Mr. Cert still had to fight Travis before the end of the class. When Kyrton was done he turned towards Travis.

"Well Travis, now it's your turn." Travis nodded at Kyrton and took his place in front of Mr. Cert. He pulled out some ninja stars and placed them in his hand. Mr. Cert in turn pulled out two daggers. They began circling as Xander and Mr. Cert had done the day before. Travis made the first move. He flicked one of his stars at Mr. Cert. Mr. Cert didn't move, but held up one of the daggers. It retaliated off the dagger and headed back at Travis. He rolled out of the way but kept his eyes on Mr. Cert.

"Very good," Mr. Cert told him. Travis stood up and retrieved his star. Mr. Cert threw a dagger when Travis was coming back. He shot one of his stars to deflect the dagger, catching the dagger as it fell. Mr. Cert threw another one, but then had to jump out of the way of Travis' ninja star. Travis dodged the dagger and threw the one he had back. Mr. Cert threw the star back, and they began again. After ten minutes of this Mr. Cert ended it.

"Well done Travis. Even though you didn't have the whole semester to train with us you seem to have picked up things very quickly. I look especially forward to fighting you tomorrow Grim." Grim only nodded on their way out. They reached the bus and were on their way back to the orphanage.

"Grim, you better be careful tomorrow," Eline told him. "It sounds like Mr. Cert might have something special planned for you."

"I'll be ready. The only thing I'm worried about it my Chemistry final tomorrow." Everyone laughed and discussed their upcoming finals the rest of the ride. At the orphanage they finished their homework and then met in Attlin's room.

"Weren't we supposed to train with Squall and Cloud this week?" asked Rystan.

"Yes we were," answered Xander, "but with our finals in WT, I don't think any of us are going to want to train any more this week. We can wait until the weekend."

"But Squall wants to be taken to the portal once we're out of school," Grim reminded him. "How are we going to train with them if they're gone?"

"We'll deal with that later," Xander replied. "For now, let's just pass our classes." They all agreed to that and headed off to bed. The next day Grim was a little on edge about his battle with Mr. Cert.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine," Eline told him. He said nothing. When sixth hour did eventually arrive, Grim seemed ready.

"Grim, you get to go first today," Mr. Cert said. Grim stood up and faced Mr. Cert. He was surprised when he pulled out a simple sword as his weapon. He got himself ready all the same. Everyone watched the battles, glad to either be done with theirs or worrying about their own. "Good job today Grim. I'm pleased with how far you've come in this class. You too Garrett," Mr. Cert told them at the end of the class. He let them out early again, so the seven of them headed to the bus.

"Nice job Grim," commented Travis on the bus. "I think you did even better than me." Grim only laughed.

"I did all right, but not as good as you."

"Oh man," Eline said. Everyone looked at her. "I forgot my Biology take-home part of the final at my desk."

"Think the bus driver would miss us?" Rystan asked. Eline smiled and shook her head. "You guys will cover for us right?" she asked the others.

"I think we can manage," Kyrton told her.

Rystan only smiled. A minute later she and Eline disappeared. Another minute and they were back.

"The teacher wasn't in there luckily so we didn't have to deal with that," Eline said. Everyone merely nodded. They did their homework and went to bed, this time Rystan and Attlin being the ones worrying about their battles the next day.

They arrived in sixth hour the following day wondering what weapon Mr. Cert was going to use this time. When the final bell rang, Mr. Cert still was not in class.

"Do you think he's on another errand?" asked Rystan. Attlin only shrugged.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Mr. Cert said as he walked through the door. "I'm afraid I was talking to another teacher across the building when the bell rang so I had to walk all the way back. Let's see, I'm fighting Attlin and Rystan today, is that correct?" They nodded. "And since we're going by age, this time ladies do not go first. Attlin?" Attlin took the hint and steeped forward. He had his pole while Mr. Cert pulled out a pair of chains.

Mr. Cert made the first move. He began by slowly swinging the chains, and then latched them around one end of Attlin's pole. Instead of struggling to free his pole, he only smiled. Then he turned the middle of his stick and the half caught by the chains fell off. Then Attlin slid the other half of the wood off to reveal a slightly smaller metal rod.

"Impressive," commented Mr. Cert. Attlin took the moment to jump at him and attack. They moved quickly, attacking and countering the other. Finally Mr. Cert stood back. "That will do. Good job. Now Rystan it is your turn." Kyrton gave her an encouraging smile and she stepped forward. Her battle took longer, but still ended a few minutes before the bell rang.

"At least we've gotten out early each day," Travis commented.

"But I'm the only one battling him tomorrow," Eline complained. Grim patted her head.

"There there. I'm sure you'll do fine." Eline only knocked away his hand and kept walking towards the bus. They again did their homework upon arriving at the orphanage. Eline tossed and turned during the night, worrying about her fight with Mr. Cert. She eventually drifted off to sleep close to two in the morning.

"You look tired," Rystan told Eline the next morning in the hall.

"I didn't sleep well," was the reply. They made their way down to the bus, Eline trying not to trip on the way down. She was absent-minded the entire day until she reached sixth period. She woke up and got ready to face Mr. Cert the minute she was in the class.

"Finally awake I see," Grim told her. She only glared at him. "Don't worry, you'll do fine." Mr. Cert was on time for class this time, and was already prepared to fight Eline. She gave his ax a glance before stepping up to him.

"Ready?" he asked her. She nodded and they began. She had previously filled her guns with blanks, and started the battle off by firing a few shots at him. He dodged the first few, but sent the last one back at her. He then charged during the time she was dodging her own bullet. She rolled out of the way seconds before he would have hit her, and tripped him in the process. When she was facing him as he fell she fired a few more shots. Some hit, some missed. They both stood up and caught their breath. Everyone else in the class did the same.

"Very good so far. You've improved. I think that's all I need. You can get out of school for the summer very early today since I unfortunately have nothing else planned for the period. Enjoy your summer!" he called as they all made their way out the door.

"Can you believe it?" Kyrton said as they walked. "It's finally summer vacation!" Everyone laughed. They talked until the rest of the school was out and then got on the bus. When they reached the orphanage they all went straight to the attic. Once Xander unlocked it and everyone was inside, he closed it back up to keep Wilkan out.

"Why are you all so happy?" Cloud asked.

"Because we're done with school for the summer!" Kyrton told him.

"Three months with absolutely no homework, teachers, or stupid academy!" Grim added with enthusiasm. Cloud smiled with understanding.

"So does that mean you'll take me to the portal now?" Squall asked suddenly. Everyone sobered down.

"Not right away," Xander told him. "Not today of course because there isn't enough time. Maybe tomorrow, and if not, then Sunday." Squall seemed satisfied with that answer, or at least decided not to argue.

"Do you want to train today then?" Cloud asked.

"No!" Eline shouted immediately. Grim smiled.

"We're all a little worn out from finals this week," Xander said. "If the portal does take you back, then we'll practice with ourselves. If not, and you're stuck here a little longer, then we would like to train a little." Cloud nodded.

"Let's get out of here before Wilkan finds us," Travis suggested. They left the attic and headed down to Attlin's room. Shortly after getting comfortable, Wilkan came up and interrupted them with some disturbing news.


	13. Chapter 12

"What!" screamed Rystan. Everyone else was speechless.

"You heard me. Kyrton has been adopted. His new family will be by tomorrow to pick him up on their way to the airport," announced Wilkan.

"Airport?" Travis asked.

"Yes. They're here on vacation, while looking for another child to adopt. They're leaving tomorrow for their home in Australia."

"Australia!" Kyrton yelled. "I'm not moving to Australia! And I'm not getting adopted!" Wilkan only smiled.

"Go upstairs and pack your things Kyrton. You can say goodbye to your friends while you pack." Wilkan stood there smiling until they walked up to their rooms. Once he was gone they went back into Attlin's room. Everyone started talking all at once.

"How can he do this?"

"Does he want to separate us?"

"Why would he do this?"

"There's got to be a way around it!"

"Why Australia?"

"Is he trying to get rid of us?"

"Calm down everyone," Xander said calmly. "Maybe they'll understand that Kyrton doesn't want to move to Australia."

"Unlikely," Grim said. "Wilkan, being who he is, probably picked the worst family to take Kyrton in. So they won't understand how he feels. Or if they do, they won't care what he wants."

"We'll run away then," Travis suggested. "If they can't find us, they can't separate us."

"Travis, then Wilkan would send the police after his orphan runaways," Xander told him. "We don't need to get the police involved with us."

"Well then what do we do?" Rystan asked.

"Yeah, we can't just let Wilkan send Kyrton off to Australia!" Grim put in.

"I know that. We have all night to come up with a solution before the family arrives," said Xander.

"What if Kyrton disappeared?" Attlin suggested.

"We don't want the police around," Xander reminded him.

"What if he was sick?" Eline thought. They were quiet for a minute.

"That might work," Xander said after a minute.

"Well how do I become sick overnight?" Kyrton asked.

"Maybe if Travis could control his powers a little more he would be of some help," Grim commented sarcastically.

"I can control my power just fine!" Travis retorted. "What would my powers do to help make him sick though?"

"Well perhaps Kyrton ate some bad food today, and he'll get food poisoning," Xander mused.

"Again, how do my powers come into play?" Travis asked.

"You seem to be able to manipulate electrical energy. You could perhaps, if you're willing to lose some sleep, stay here all night with Kyrton keeping the lamp on him. With your powers though, you could make the temperature of the lamp overly warm. That might probably raise the temperature of Kyrton's body. Then he would have a fever."

"Would that really keep me from going to Australia though?"

"It's our only idea at the moment. Unless you know of another way to get you sick or keep you here that is."

"All right, so Travis gets to spend the night in my room tonight," Kyrton said.

"Travis, you understand what to do?" Xander asked. He nodded, so everyone headed to their rooms.

"See you in the morning," Rystan said before leaving.

"Hopefully I'll be sick." He smiled. Travis came back in, wearing his pajamas and ready for bed.

"Well, I'm ready to do this. Are you?" Kyrton nodded.

"It's my only chance to stay here, until we find a way to keep me here permanently." Travis said down next to the lamp, while Kyrton got in bed.

"Might as well try to get some sleep while you can," Travis suggested. Kyrton nodded. Travis waited for almost an hour until Kyrton was asleep. Then he began concentrating on the lamp. He slowly began feeling the temperature in the room rise. Kyrton was under the covers, so Travis saw the sweat on his face long before Travis started sweating. He kept it up most of the night, only drifting off to sleep every once in a while. The next morning, he left and went back into his own room. An hour later, Rystan went into Kyrton's room. After feeling his forehead to make sure he was warm enough, she went to get Wilkan.

"Wilkan!" She pounded on his door, waiting for him to wake up. She heard footsteps, and a minute later the door opened.

"What?" he asked angrily. It was obvious he had just woken up.

"Kyrton's sick!" Wilkan was slow, but soon what she said registered. He followed her up to Kyrton's room. "I came to say goodbye, and he looked flushed. He's burning up." Rystan was a good actress. Wilkan felt Kyrton's forehead, then ran to get the thermometer.

"He has a temperature of 101.3 degrees. What did he do yesterday?" he questioned Rystan.

"Well," she thought, "he played some basketball in the afternoon."

"What did he eat?" She looked thoughtful again.

"He ate cereal for breakfast like the rest of us. He skipped lunch, and had fish for dinner."

"Who else had fish?"

"No one that I know of. Everyone else had sandwiches." He considered her answer for a minute.

"The fish must have been bad." He paced around the room, thinking to himself. Kyrton began waking up at that point.

"What are you doing in here Wilkan?" Kyrton asked, sounding somewhat groggy.

"How do you feel Kyrton?" Wilkan asked, ignoring the question directed at him.

"A little hot I guess." Wilkan continued pacing around the room, thinking. He suddenly walked out of the room without a word. "What's going on?" Kyrton asked. Rystan shrugged. Wilkan came back in a minute later, not looking too happy.

"Okay, Kyrton, stay in bed for now. Go back to sleep. Rystan, come with me." Rystan followed Wilkan out, hoping the plan was going to work.

"So what's going to happen?" she asked Wilkan.

"Kyrton obviously is sick from the fish; most likely food poisoning. I'm going to call his family when I've figured out what to tell them."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"I don't know, stop asking me questions! You'll be in charge of taking care of Kyrton. Don't bother me unless it's important." With that he walked back in the direction of his office. When she was sure he was gone and not coming back, she smiled. She went back into Kyrton's room, who was sitting up on his bed.

"Well?"

"It worked. He thinks you're sick from eating fish."

"Okay, so now what?"

"We ask Xander what to do. You can't be sick forever, but I'm in charge of taking care of you. I could do a lousy job to keep you sick even longer." Kyrton cringed.

"Never become a nurse." She would have laughed, but they heard footsteps coming.

"Did I miss the fireworks?" Travis asked.

"No," Rystan answered. "Is Xander up? And shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Yes, I'm up." Xander walked in, so Travis decided not to answer the question Rystan asked him. "The others are still asleep, I checked. How's Kyrton doing?"

"I feel hot," Kyrton complained. They laughed quietly.

"But what do we do?" Travis asked. "I mean, he can't be sick from food poisoning forever. So once he 'gets better', then what?"

"We hadn't thought through things that far yet," Xander said. "I'm not sure what we'll do."

"Perhaps we should get Preston over here," Rystan said.

"Maybe he could think of something," Kyrton added. Xander only nodded and walked out.

"So for now?" Travis asked to the remaining two.

"I guess I get to take care of Kyrton if, I mean, until he gets better." Kyrton looked scared.

"Why did Wilkan have to put you in charge?" he asked dramatically. Rystan merely laughed and walked out.

"That's a little freaky," Travis commented on his way out.

Kyrton was able to feign his sickness all day. Rystan played nurse as well, constantly bringing a wet rag for his fever or a pail which they filled with a special fluid to make it look like he was throwing up. Wilkan never came out of his office again until the evening.

"Rystan!" She stopped when Wilkan called her name. Instead of letting her answer, he continued yelling. "I've been informed that Kyrton's sickness is a little trick of yours to keep him from Australia! I spent all morning on the phone with that family, trying to explain what I thought had happened! They told me that if I couldn't keep my orphans healthy then they didn't want to pay for the medical bills! So be happy that Kyrton is not going to Australia, but don't celebrate for long." Ending on that threat he slammed his door shut and disappeared into his office again. Rystan went to Kyrton's room.

"You can stop playing sick, Wilkan knows." She sat on the edge of his bed while he sat up. A few minutes later everyone else joined them.

"What was Wilkan yelling downstairs for?" Eline asked.

"He sounded pretty angry," Travis added. Rystan told everyone what Wilkan had said to her, and let them ponder what he meant by his threat.

"Did he say how he found out about Kyrton not really being sick?" Attlin asked.

"No, just that he knew. Why?"

"Obviously none of us told him, so someone else must have. And it was probably someone who knows the difference between real throw up and the stuff we've been using. The only person that comes to mind is Brett."

"It wouldn't take much for Brett to rat us out," Grim said.

"Maybe we should have a little chat with Brett," Kyrton suggested.

"And what exactly are you going to say to him?" Xander asked. Kyrton thought for a minute.

"We have to do something about Brett though!"

"Yes, but before we march down there we should know first what we plan on doing."

"You guys, we need to get up to the attic," Eline interrupted. They all looked at her and saw her hands shaking. They suddenly heard crashing sounds coming from above them. They ran to the attic. Xander opened the door quickly, and they piled in. They looked and saw Squall fighting Seifer, swords moving with lightning speed. Cloud was nowhere to be seen.

"Squall, where's Cloud?" Travis shouted.

"He ran after Reno!" Suddenly there was someone knocking on the door. Xander opened it just enough to see Wilkan and for Wilkan to see him.

"What are you all doing up there so late?" he asked Xander.

"Just practicing with our school weapons."

"Well keep it down!" He left and Xander shut the door.

"We've got to get them out of here! And find Cloud," Xander yelled. "Rystan, can you teleport both of them somewhere else?"

"Yeah, but I'd have to send them to the forest by A.Y.I. to get them far enough. And then what about us?"

"Do them first; then try to send the rest of us." Rystan nodded and turned towards Squall and Seifer. She concentrated and then those two along with her disappeared from the attic. She reappeared alone a minute later. "Go for it," Xander told her. She nodded again and began concentrating on a few. Attlin, Eline, and Xander disappeared. Rystan waited a few minutes before concentrating on Grim, Travis, and Kyrton. They all disappeared and arrived in a forest. The other three were waiting a few yards off, careful to keep a safe distance away from the fight between Squall and Seifer.

"So how do we find Cloud?" Eline asked.

"If he went after Reno, he would still be somewhere in the city," Grim thought out loud. "He wouldn't make it to the forest for another twenty minutes at least, and that's only if he's heading in this direction."

"That really depends on how fast he was running, and if he stopped to fight Reno along the way," Attlin added.

"We have to find him either way," Kyrton said. "A few of us should go back to the city to look for him."

"And how do we find him?" Travis asked.

"A blonde guy running around town with a huge blade, probably being shot at by a guy with red hair in a business suit. Hmm, I wonder," Rystan told him sarcastically.

"Okay Rystan, you take Attlin and Travis with you and go after Cloud," Xander told her.

"Do you want me to bring you your weapons first?"

"That would probably be helpful." She disappeared, and a few minutes later was back with everyone's weapons. "Thanks. Now go find Cloud." She nodded. Attlin and Travis waited. Soon the three vanished and the remaining four turned their attention to the fight Squall was still having with Seifer.

"Should we help?" Grim asked.

"Of course, we have our weapons now," Kyrton pointed out.

"Squall might not want our help," Eline interjected.

"Whether or not he wants it, it looks like he needs it," Grim said. They looked over and, sure enough, at that moment Squall was in defense mode, barely able to block Seifer's attacks. Not only physical attacks either. He was using what had to be magic.

"Okay then, I guess we help," Xander said.

Grim was the first to join in the fight. He threw one of his daggers at Seifer. It was aimed for Seifer's head, but hit his shoulder instead. Seifer turned to look at Grim, giving Squall time to recover. Eline then fired some shots, but Seifer was able to reflect them.

"So you brought some friends to help you fight me?" Seifer taunted. Squall said nothing. He ran at Seifer and began attacking again.

"Hopefully the other three won't have to fight Reno," Xander whispered to Kyrton. Kyrton only nodded while Xander joined the fight, and then followed close behind him.

"Hang on Attlin!" Rystan screamed.

The three of them had arrived back near the orphanage. They found signs of a scuffle just north of the orphanage, heading into the city. The tracks led past, over, and around many buildings. It ended when they found Cloud and Reno exchanging insults on the top of one of the buildings. Not long after they arrived, a helicopter showed up. They finally decided to help out Cloud by attacking Reno. Attlin was the first to reach the helicopter. He jumped on trying to get at Reno, but the helicopter lifted off while he was half on. His pole had dropped but Cloud caught it. Rystan was trying to teleport him off but the helicopter was getting too far away.

"Can't you teleport yourself on?" Travis yelled.

"The helicopter's moving too much. There's no way of being sure I'd end up on it."

"Can't you teleport him off?"

"I'm trying!" She turned back to the helicopter, which had gotten even farther. "Hold on, and try not to move," she told Travis and Cloud. She teleported them to a rooftop closer to the helicopter. Suddenly shots rang out from the helicopter towards them.

"Watch out!" Travis yelled. Cloud pushed them out of the way and began blocking the bullets with his sword. Rystan began concentrating again on getting Attlin off the helicopter. She almost had him when Reno put a gun to his head after pulling him up.

"Try getting him away and I'll shoot him," Reno shouted at them. Rystan couldn't do anything but watch the helicopter get farther away.

"Hopefully the others are doing better than we did," Rystan commented softly.

Xander pulled again, but Seifer merely backed out of the whip. Grim threw daggers, but Seifer blocked them just as he did Eline's bullets. He was also fighting Kyrton and Squall while doing all that.

"How the heck do you beat this guy?" Grim yelled.

"I'm not sure," Xander said. "It's a lot easier when you can just start your battle over. We don't have that option now."

Kyrton and Squall were circling Seifer, alternating attacks in a way that Seifer was completely occupied. Grim took the opportunity to throw a dagger. It embedded itself in Seifer's shoulder. He lashed out in anger, throwing Kyrton into a tree to knock him out. Suddenly someone appeared in Kyrton's place.

"Who are you?" Seifer asked. The stranger said nothing but began attacking. He used a gun for a weapon, but also used a sort of metal claw to attack at close range. Seifer focused his attention on the new enemy, but received a huge slash across his face. The cut went deep. "You'll regret that!" Seifer shouted in rage. He ran at the stranger, blocking the claw this time. He got in a good hit but heard the gun go off. He stumbled back. He saw the blood staining his jacket from the wound in his stomach. He took one more look at the stranger before running off. The four orphans turned to this new person.

"Who are you?" Eline asked. They took in his appearance, waiting for him to answer. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

"My name is not important." He began walking away.

"Wait just a minute!" Grim yelled. "Tell us who you are!" He continued walking, so they followed him. No matter what they said, he answered no questions. Finally they had had enough.

"Xander, can't you just find out for us?" Kyrton asked. Xander sighed, but looked at the stranger's back. He closed his eyes and concentrated. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes with a start.

"You okay?" Eline asked.

"Yeah, sorry. His name is Vincent. And yes, it's that Vincent," he added at their expressions. They were speaking quietly, but Grim changed the mood.

"Hey Vincent, wait up!" Vincent turned and looked directly at Grim.

"How do you know my name?" Grim stopped walking towards him. Vincent was rather intimidating.

"Calm down Vincent," Xander said. "We need to talk to you. There're a lot of things we know about you." He continued to stare at Grim, but addressed Xander.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Will you come with us? We'll tell you what we can." Vincent turned completely around, signifying he would go with them. "Good."

"What about Rystan and the other two?" Kyrton asked. They didn't have to wait long for an answer. Rystan, Travis, and Cloud burst out from behind some trees out of breath, right between Vincent and the other four orphans. Cloud saw Vincent first.

"Vincent!" Cloud shouted. "How did you get here?" Vincent gave Cloud a strange look.

"What do you mean here?" he asked Cloud. Cloud turned to the four orphans.

"He doesn't know?" Xander shook his head.

"We haven't gotten there yet." Cloud and Vincent walked off to the side to talk while Rystan and Travis joined the other four.

"Where's Attlin?" Eline asked. Rystan sighed.

"He's with the Turks." No one spoke.

"What happened?" Xander asked. Rystan explained what had happened when they got to Cloud's fight.

"I tried, but couldn't get him away. That's when we came back here and ran through the forest trying to find you."

"So now there are Final Fantasy characters in our world and one of us in theirs," Grim stated.

"Very good Grim," Travis said. "But how are we going to get Attlin back?"

"Rystan, maybe you could go with Cloud to ShinRa and try to get Attlin out," Xander suggested.

"You mean go through the portal?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What about Vincent?" Eline asked. "Shouldn't we send him back too?"

"He needs to know what's going on first," Xander said.

"He does," Cloud interrupted. "I explained to him what you've told me as best as I could."

"Oh." Xander was surprised.

"So what about Attlin?" Rystan said, returning to the subject.

"It's getting really late," Xander said. "It's almost midnight. As much as Attlin needs our help, we need to get back to the orphanage and get some sleep. If Wilkan finds us gone when he wakes up, he'll know something's up. We can go to the portal tomorrow when we've had some sleep."

"Wilkan will know something's up when he doesn't find Attlin in his room tomorrow," Grim pointed out.

"We'll find a way around that, but what will he do if all seven of us are gone? I don't think we want to find out what he'll do," Xander reasoned.

"But what if Attlin gets seriously hurt with those Turks?" Travis argued. "He could die!"

"He won't die," Rystan jumped in. "I doubt the Turks are going to do anything with Attlin tonight. We'll go back to the orphanage and get some sleep. You forget what quick transportation I provide." She smirked when everyone but Vincent knew what she was talking about.

"Rystan can teleport things," Xander told Vincent. He nodded in understanding.

"Where should I bring us?" Rystan asked. "The attic?"

"That will work," Xander told her. She nodded, and they found themselves in the attic of the orphanage. When they were sure Wilkan was asleep they made their way to their rooms.

"Okay, we're back at the orphanage now, so what are we going to do about Attlin?" Kyrton asked. Xander didn't answer right away.

"Too bad we can't generate a hologram of Attlin," Grim said.

"That means we're all going to have to get up early so it looks like we all got up early to do something," Eline suggested. Xander agreed with her.

"That seems to be the only thing we can do." They set their alarms for 5:30 in the morning, agreeing to wake up anyone else that slept in. When the alarms went off, everyone woke up. They stumbled to the attic before leaving.

"Morning everyone," Xander told them when they were all there.

"I wish we had thought of another way to cover for Attlin," Grim grumbled.

"Rystan, you ready to teleport us?" She stifled a yawn. Before she could answer they heard something stirring in the corner of the attic. Travis walked over and found Cloud waking up. Vincent and Squall woke up shortly after.

"What are you doing up here so early?" Cloud asked them.

"We're getting ready to leave," was all Xander said.

"Aren't you taking us to the portal today?" Squall asked.

"Not today. We have to get Attlin back first; then we can deal with getting you to the portal." Squall wasn't happy.

"You said you'd take me to the portal. Did you lie?"

"Of course not, but I did say maybe. I wasn't planning on having one of my friends kidnapped by the Turks." Squall said nothing.

"Did you say Attlin was kidnapped by the Turks?" Vincent asked.

"Yes. We're going to try to get him back today. First though, I need Rystan to do me a favor." She looked at him surprised, not having known about this before hand. "I read Wilkan's mind during the week and was able to find out where Preston is living. I think we're going to need his excellent eyesight for this little trip. I want you to bring him here."

"Do you have the address for me?" she asked. He handed her a piece of paper. "Does he know you want him to help us?" Xander only smiled.

"I'm sure he'll understand." Rystan disappeared. "Or at least I hope he will."


	14. Chapter 13

Rystan appeared in Preston's apartment. She walked into the bedroom and found Preston awake.

"Rystan!"

"Hi Preston. You ready to go to the Final Fantasy world?" she asked calmly. He stared at her. "Attlin was taken by the Turks and we're getting him back today."

"And you want me?" She nodded, so he grabbed his mace and she brought him back to the attic in the orphanage. "Hey guys," he said.

"Nice to have you back Preston," Xander said. "This leadership role is overrated." Preston laughed. "Rystan told you why you're here, right?"

"Yes, but not why you need me."

"We need you because we'll probably need your eyesight to see from a distance, to avoid being seen by anyone as long as possible."

"That makes sense. So how are we getting there?" Xander pointed to Rystan. "Of course, I should have thought of that. But why not use the portal?" Before Xander could answer, they heard a female scream from one of the rooms below them. They ran to the room. One of the girls was standing on her bed, backed into a corner facing some sort of monster.

"What is that thing?" Eline asked.

"It looks like a Tri-Face from Final Fantasy 8," Rystan said. At that point the monster turned from the scared girl towards the new group of people in the room.

"How did it get here?" Travis asked.

"I think we need to worry about what to do with it now," Grim told him. It leaped towards them at that point. They quickly jumped out of the way, causing it to skid out into the hallway. It was now looking at Wilkan.

"What is that thing!" Wilkan screamed. He looked from the monster, to the group of eight, back to the monster. Luckily he was too preoccupied to notice Preston's appearance or Attlin's absence.

"Maybe if we get it to the back of the orphanage we can kill it," Xander told them. Grim threw a dagger at it to get its attention.

It turned and ran towards Grim. Grim took off running down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time to keep ahead of the monster. He reached the back door and led it to the back yard. The others were close behind it. As Grim turned around the monster slammed into him. Eline shot at it to distract it, giving Grim a chance to get over to them.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem. What now, we just kill it?" Eline asked.

"I guess," Xander said. "There's no point in trying to send it back to its world." Kyrton made the first move. He ran at it and attacked with his sword. The Tri-Face took the hit, but then emitted a greenish gas out of its mouths.

"What is that?" Travis asked.

"It's poison gas," Rystan said. A few of them held their breath, but the others had already breathed in some of the toxic fumes. The gas dissipated quickly, allowing the rest to let their breath out.

"Rystan, go back to the attic and see if anyone up there has any antidotes or remedies!" Preston shouted at her. She nodded and ran back into the orphanage. While she was gone, Preston attacked with his mace. He quickly pulled it back towards him so the monster wouldn't break it. Grim and Eline continued to attack from a distance with their weapons. Rystan finally came back out of the building.

"Cloud only had one Remedy," she said. She handed it to Preston. He looked at the three who had breathed in the gas, and handed the Remedy to Xander.

"We need more," Preston said to no one in particular. He then turned his attention back to the battle, and killed the Tri-Face with one last hit. They watched as the monster slowly disintegrated into nothing.

"Okay, how are we going to explain this to Wilkan?" Grim asked.

"We don't have to explain anything to him," Preston said. "We just need to make sure that he doesn't notice me or wonder where Attlin is."

"And we need to get antidotes for Travis and Kyrton quickly," Rystan pointed out. They all thought for a minute.

"Okay, so we tell Wilkan that Travis, Kyrton, Attlin, and anyone else that goes with them, left the orphanage to chase after the monster," Xander suggested. "I'll go back in and tell him that I'm going after you to make sure you're all okay. That will keep him from noticing Preston or Attlin." Everyone agreed. They brought Cloud and Vincent with them, and then headed towards the portal. They made sure Wilkan didn't see them before they left, and Xander went in search of him.

"Wilkan!" Xander shouted when he saw him down the hall entering his office.

"Xander, where are the others?" Wilkan asked.

"They chased after the monster. Can I go after them to make sure they're okay?" He waited for Wilkan to answer.

"Yes. I don't want to have to send for a doctor. And try to find out what that thing was," he added. Xander nodded and ran after everyone else. When he caught up they slowed down so he could catch his breath.

"Okay, Wilkan won't be worried about us for a while," Xander told them.

"But we still don't know how exactly we're going to get Attlin back," Eline said.

"Or where we're going to find Antidotes for Travis and Kyrton," Rystan again reminded them. Grim was carrying Travis at the moment, and Preston was carrying Kyrton.

"Cloud, Vincent, do either of you know where to get Antidotes?" Preston asked.

"It depends on where we are when we go through the portal," Cloud said. "If it's in the same place where it was when I came through, we should be near Nibelheim. I'll be able to get you some stuff there."

"And if we're not near Nibelheim?" Xander asked.

"Then once we find out where we are I should be able to get some."

"Who's going through the portal first when we get there?" Eline asked.

"I will," Preston said.

"Shouldn't someone that would recognize the Final Fantasy seven world go through?" Rystan asked.

"Are you saying you'll go?" he asked her.

"I guess. We need to get there soon, so should I teleport us to the portal now?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Xander said. She closed her eyes, and they found themselves next to the portal.

"Should I go in now?" she asked. Preston nodded at her.

"Yes, but come back through if something's wrong. If you don't come back in a few minutes, we'll start coming through after you. So don't move."

"Right." She stepped towards the portal and walked through. She found herself standing in a forest, so she figured she was in the Final Fantasy seven world. After a few minutes Grim came through with Travis. Xander followed soon after. Once he was through the portal began getting smaller.

"What's happening!" Grim yelled. A few seconds more and the portal had completely disappeared.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Rystan shouted.

"Well, let's see if we're near Nibelheim like Cloud said and get Travis healed up," Xander told them. They followed him out of the forest and stopped dead. Right in front of them, floating slightly above the ground, stood Balamb Garden.

"Tell me we didn't accidentally end up in Squall's world," Rystan said.

"I think we did," Grim told her. "Why else would the Garden be there?"

"At least we'll be able to get Travis healed up," Xander said. They walked towards the Garden. They met no guards and were able to walk right to the infirmary. Once there they met up with a doctor. They all knew who she was.

"Oh my, what have we here!" she exclaimed when she saw Travis.

"He's been poisoned and we wondered if you might have any Antidotes or Remedies here," Xander explained.

"Of course I do." She rummaged through her desk and handed them an Antidote. "There you go. You all look somewhat tired. Perhaps you should stay here and rest up." Without waiting for an answer she rushed out of the room.

"We can't stay here," Rystan said. "We have to get back to the others!"

"If the portal isn't there then we can't get to them," Xander told her.

"I think you're forgetting what I can do," she reminded him. Dr. Kadowaki walked back in, followed by Headmaster Cid.

"I've been told that we have four young people that are in need of rest. You are most welcome to stay here until you are rested," Cid told them. Xander spoke for the four of them.

"Thank you, but we need to get back to our friends."

"Well, if you ever need to rest you can come to Balamb Garden." He walked back out with Dr. Kadowaki.

"So we're going back to the portal then?" Grim asked.

"Yes. And if it's not there, then hopefully Rystan can help us out," Xander told him. They walked out of the infirmary, heading to the exit, when someone caught hold of the back of Travis's collar and spun him around. The others stopped and looked at the stranger. Seifer stood holding Travis slightly above the ground by his collar.

"What do you want Seifer?" Xander asked. Seifer started laughing.

"I thought I'd have to make another visit to your pathetic world to see you punks again," Seifer said. "Last time we met I was unable to finish with you. I think this time we'll be able to finish our battle." He suddenly threw Travis across the hall into Rystan and Grim, knocking them into the ground. Then he pulled out his gunblade. "Ready?" Travis quickly got up, allowing Rystan and Grim to stand back up. They all pulled out their weapons and faced Seifer.

"Perhaps we should take this somewhere else," Seifer said. He quickly ran past them and out the exit. They followed him into the surrounding forest. He stopped to face them when they reached a small clearing. "Now, this is much better." He immediately jumped towards them and swung at Xander. When Xander cracked his whip Seifer moved out of the way to attack Grim. Grim had been watching him and was able to counter with a dagger. Seifer moved back and faced them again. Rystan took the moment to attack Seifer, getting into a one-on-one battle with him.

"Rystan, move!" Travis shouted. She did, moving to the side, allowing Travis to shoot off a ninja star at Seifer. Grim also threw a dagger while Xander tried to get his whip around Seifer's sword. Seifer dodged the dagger but was hit by the ninja star. He grabbed his sword with both hands and yanked it hard. Xander was caught off-guard and fell towards Seifer. Seifer quickly swing at Xander, giving him a gash across his back.

"Xander!" Rystan screamed. She ran towards him and attacked Seifer while Travis dragged Xander away. He overpowered her and knocked her back into Grim. Travis shot star after star at him, Grim circling around behind him. While Seifer concentrated on blocking the stars, Grim stuck a dagger into his back. He screamed in pain.

"You'll regret that!" he shouted. He turned around with his sword out, catching Grim across the stomach. Then he put Grim into a headlock. "Now, tell your friends to put away their weapons." Grim didn't say anything because the others had already put them away. "Now tell me where Squall is."

"We don't know," Travis said.

"Don't lie to me," Seifer told him. "You know exactly where everyone else is, so tell me."

"We don't know where everyone else is," Travis continued. "We came here by accident. If you want to know where Squall is, find him yourself." Seifer looked at each of them. He let Grim go and ran off into the forest. Grim sat on the ground choking still.

"So what now?" Grim asked when he could breathe again.

"Should we still head to the portal?" Rystan asked.

"I think we need to heal Xander and Grim first," Travis said. "Otherwise they won't be able to help us."

"I can keep going," Grim said.

"No, let's go back to Balamb Garden and get healed up there," Rystan said. "There's no telling if the portal will even take us to the right place." Travis helped Xander up while Rystan supported Grim. They reached the Garden and went back to the Infirmary.

"What happened?" Dr. Kadowaki asked when she saw them.

"We got into a fight with someone," Travis said. She put Xander and Grim into beds to rest after healing them. She then called to have someone take Travis and Rystan to rooms so they could rest.

"This is Quistis. She'll show you to some rooms where you can rest." They immediately recognized Quistis from the game.

"Follow me," she told them. Rystan had an idea as they were walking behind her.

"Quistis, do you know someone named Squall?" she asked. Travis gave her a questioning look, and they both noticed when Quistis faltered on a step.

"Yes I do. How do you know Squall?"

"I met him once while he visited my town," she said.

"Where do you live?" Rystan hadn't been expecting that question.

"It's a very small town in the mountains surrounding Esthar."

"When did Squall visit your town?" Rystan again wasn't prepared. She didn't know if the sorceress had been defeated, and if she had how long ago that was. Travis came to her rescue.

"It was a few weeks ago," he said. Rystan shot him a grateful look.

"Have you seen Squall since then?" Quistis asked them.

"No, why?"

"He hasn't been back for a few weeks. We're beginning to wonder if something's happened to him. Here are your rooms. If you need something find me, or find Dr. Kadowaki and she'll find me." They thanked her and watched her leave.

"So they're starting to worry about Squall here," Travis commented to himself.

"If things had worked out right Squall should have come back today," Rystan said.

"We can only hope that the others got to the right place and are able to get Attlin back. Then hopefully things will work out." Rystan nodded and they each went into their rooms to rest, intending to leave for the portal as soon as the others were ready.


	15. Chapter 14

"Who's next?" Eline asked.

"You are," Preston told him. Eline went in. Preston waited until Cloud and Vincent had gone in to follow with Kyrton. Once they were all in they watched the portal close.

"Wait, where are the others?" Eline asked. They looked around. "Preston, do you see them anywhere?" Preston focused and looked around them. He did a full circle, looking in every direction through the trees. When he was done he shook his head.

"No, I don't see them," he answered.

"Where could they be?" Kyrton asked.

"Do you think the portal took them somewhere else?" Eline asked.

"That's a possibility. If they did end up somewhere else, we'll have to get Attlin ourselves and hope they get back on their own," Preston told them. "For now, let's focus on getting an Antidote for Kyrton. Cloud, could you get one for us?"

"It may take a while, but I'll do my best," Cloud told them.

"Just hurry," Eline told him. He nodded again and ran off. The rest of them sat down and got comfortable while they waited. Cloud came back about ten minutes later, handing an Antidote to Preston. Once it had been given to Kyrton, they discussed the other reason they had come to the world.

"Now we need to get Attlin back. You said he was taken by the Turks?" Preston asked. Cloud nodded. Preston again looked around the forest, stopping half way through his turn. "ShinRa's over there." They began walking towards ShinRa.

"Wait," Vincent said suddenly. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "Do you have a plan for getting Attlin back?"

"Uh, no," Eline said.

"And we can't just walk in and ask for him back," Kyrton said.

"So what are we going to do?" Preston asked to no one in particular. "Cloud, Vincent, you've been there before. What are you suggestions?"

"Before we can do anything, we need to first find out where Attlin is," Cloud told them.

"There's no way we can do that without going in, and then we risk getting caught," Eline said.

"Do you think you could provide us with a distraction?" Preston asked Cloud and Vincent.

"We could try," Cloud responded. "Before we do that though, we need to tell you what to do when you get inside." He explained to them the layout of the ShinRa building and the possible places where they could be holding Attlin. Once they understood, they all headed off towards the building. When they were close, Cloud and Vincent split off to create a distraction. The other three continued on their way.

* * *

Attlin sat on the bed staring at the wall. He had been awake for a while when Reno had come in to get him earlier. They brought him to a room where they questioned him. He had refused to tell them anything. When they were tired of him, they threw him back into his current room. He was still trying to figure out how to get out when his door opened again.

"Get up!" Reno shouted. Attlin did as he was told. He followed Reno out the door to the elevator. Reno said nothing, but Attlin could tell something was wrong. Reno was edgy. Off the elevator, they came to another room. Reno shoved Attlin in and locked the door. Attlin stayed there and heard Reno run off.

"Wonder what's going on?" Attlin asked himself. He looked around the new room. On one wall there was a small computer. He walked over and turned it on. The last user had forgotten to sign out. Attlin began working on the computer. He quickly hacked into the security system, reached the security cameras, and found the intruders.

"Oh crap," he muttered. He watched as Reno fought Cloud and Vincent. He began looking at all the other cameras, and soon saw Kyrton, Preston, and Eline running around.

* * *

"Where is the computer room!" Eline yelled. No one answered her. They continued running, and soon reached the floor with the Turks' offices. The fourth door they opened found Attlin sitting at the computer.

"Attlin!" Kyrton shouted.

"Let's go," Preston told him.

"What about Cloud and Vincent?" Attlin asked them.

"They agreed to cause a distraction for us," Preston said. "We never talked about how to get out."

"So are we just going to leave them here?" Attlin asked.

"This is their world."

"But we don't know what's happening here right now," Attlin argued. "What if they're not supposed to be here? How will that change the way things turn out? How different are things going to turn out already due to us?"

"We can't do anything about that right now," Preston told him. "Right now we are the ones that don't belong here. If they get out, great, if not, then we can't do anything about that right now."

"Fine. Let me find the quickest was for us to get out." He hit a few keys on the computer, and then shut it off. "Okay, I'll lead." No one argued.

* * *

"I hope they got out," Cloud commented to Vincent. "I hope we gave them enough time."

"I'm sure they're fine," Vincent replied.

"Let's hope so. As for now, we should find out where everyone else is."

"I don't think they're the ones you need to worry about," Reno said.

"What are you doing here, away from ShinRa?" Cloud asked.

"Looking for you, but that's not for you to worry about. You need to be concerned with the health of those young friends of yours."

"What have you done with them?"

"We've thought of running some tests on them. They seem to be different, don't you agree?" After arguing a little longer, Cloud and Vincent had no choice but to follow Reno back to the ShinRa building. They arrived in a lab where the four teenagers were strapped to tables. They were each hooked up to monitors, being overseen by Hojo.

"What kind of tests do you plan to run on them?" Cloud asked.

"Nothing to concern yourself with," Reno replied. "Is everything ready Hojo?"

"Yes. Tell your boss I'm ready to begin."

Reno left, leading Cloud and Vincent to their cells first. He then continued on to tell Rufus that Hojo was ready.

"Very good," Rufus said. "And don't forget to bring in our other 'guests.'" Reno nodded. He headed back to the cells, and opened up two doors.

"Follow me." Four people stepped out of the rooms and followed him back to the lab. The minute the two groups of four saw each other, everyone began talking at once.

"What are you four doing here?" Preston asked them.

"How did you get caught?" Xander also asked.

"Where were you?" Eline asked the others.

"All of you shut up!" Reno yelled.

"Thank you Reno," Hojo said. "Now if you'd be so kind as to hook up the other four I'd be most grateful." Reno strapped them down to tables, and Hojo hooked them up to monitors like the others. Reno left, and Rufus walked in a minute later.

"I see everything is in order here," he said mostly to himself. "Continue Hojo."

"Yes sir." Rufus left the room while Hojo scurried over to the monitors and pressed a few buttons.

"So what's going on here?" Grim whispered to Kyrton.

"Don't know. I just hope it isn't too bad." They watched Hojo run to different computers, muttering to himself all the while. When he finally stopped in front of one computer, he flipped a switch and began pumping fluid into the teens. They watched as the clear liquid slid through the tubes, wondering what it was for.

"What are you going to do to us?" Eline yelled.

"You shall see my dear," Hojo said.

As the fluid continued to enter their bodies, strange things began happening. Grim disappeared from the table, but it was clear that he was still there. The tubes that were connected to him were still in the same spot. Eline began shaking uncontrollably. Kyrton was hovering above the table. The tubes were keeping him from going anywhere, but they were under a lot of stress. Preston's eyes were glowing, and he was screaming something about seeing the sun. Xander was shaking his head, yelling about hearing too many thoughts and voices. Attlin was shaking his head as well, shouting things about complicated computer codes and too much information. Rystan started screaming when only parts of her body disappeared. Travis was the last one to be affected by the liquid. When it hit him, he began yelling and the lights in the room flickered. The computers began exploding, and Hojo ran from the room. The electricity issuing from Travis' body knocked out the power in the entire building, so the experiment stopped and the lights went out.

"Is everyone all right?" Preston asked after a few minutes.

"I think so," Travis responded first.

"What happened?" Grim asked.

"I think we need to try to get out of here before we ask any questions," Xander told them. "Preston, can you see?"

"Yes. How do we get out of these tables though?"

"I can teleport us all off these tables," Rystan said. After a minute, everyone was free from the tables.

"Now, if Attlin can remember how to get out, we should be able to avoid the Turks until we get out of the building," Preston told them. Everyone stayed close together as Preston and Attlin exited the lab. He looked around to see if anyone was there, but the hallway was empty.

"They must think we're still strapped to the tables," Eline said.

"Quiet," Preston told her. With Attlin's help, he led them through the hallways in the building while the lights were still out. He didn't need light for his vision, so he and Attlin got them out of the building without running into any Turks.

"We should get to the portal as quickly as possible," Xander commented. He looked at Rystan who nodded in understanding. She closed her eyes and they all appeared at the portal area.

"Where's the portal?" Kyrton asked to nobody in particular.

"Rystan, are you sure you took us to the right spot?" Xander asked her.

"I'm positive," she answered. "Maybe it's just closed for the moment." They waited around, but nothing happened. The spread out to search the nearby areas, but they didn't find anything.

"Should we go somewhere else?" Travis asked.

"If we just left the ShinRa building, we should be near Kalm. Maybe we should go there until we figure out what to do," Attlin suggested. They agreed and carefully made their way out of the forest and towards Kalm. They checked into the hotel and gathered in Attlin's room.

"Well nothing has changed," he commented when they were all together.

"Okay, so let's compare stories and figure out what went wrong when we left our world," Preston said. Travis explained what happened when his group jumped through the portal.

"...so we left for the portal then. It was back, and when we jumped through, Tseng was waiting on the other side. He brought us to the ShinRa building and put us into cells. A little while later Reno brought us to that lab, and you know what happened from there. Now it's your turn." Eline told their story, up to the point of the lab. Then Attlin took his turn to share his experience. Once that was done, they began discussing what happened to Cloud, Vincent, and Squall.

"We know Cloud and Vincent were caught and brought back to ShinRa by Reno. We don't know if they're still there or not," Preston told them.

"We left Squall back in our world somehow," Rystan pointed out, "so who knows what has happened to him since we left."

"Hopefully he's kept himself hidden and Wilkan hasn't found him," Kyrton said.

"Well for now we should rest," Xander decided. "We can keep talking about what we should do tomorrow morning." They all retired to their rooms and went to sleep. Exhausted from all the action, everyone slept in late the next morning.


	16. Chapter 15

After everyone woke up in the morning, they all decided to gather in Attlin's room to try to figure out what to do.

"Should we go back through the portal?" Kyrton asked.

"What if there isn't a portal?" Xander asked him back.

"Then we have Rystan teleport us back."

"And if that doesn't work?" Xander pressed on. "Going back to the portal is an option, but if it isn't there, then we don't have many options open to us."

"We could try having me teleport us back, but like you pointed out that might not work," Rystan interrupted.

"Yes. If that doesn't work, then we are stuck in the Final Fantasy seven world for who knows how long."

"But isn't it dangerous for us to be here?" Eline asked.

"It might be," Preston said, "but what choice do we have? The only thing we can do if we are stuck here is try not to mess up the story."

"If Cloud and Vincent are being held prisoner by ShinRa, haven't we already messed up the story line?" Grim pointed out. "And so then isn't it our responsibility to fix things?"

"What about the eight world?" Rystan asked. "We've messed that up by not bringing Squall back."

"We can't worry about that world until we finish fixing this world," Preston said. "And it wouldn't do us any good because we can't even get to the eight world unless the portal is back and takes us there."

"Okay, out of everything that's been said so far, the most important is going to see if the portal is there today. If not, then we'll go back to discussing what to do," Travis said to everyone.

"I'll see if the portal is there, and if it is then I'll teleport you all over there," Rystan said. The next second she was gone, but she returned quickly. "It's still not there. I think we're going to be stuck here until we fix everything we messed up."

"So, what, we're supposed to bust into ShinRa, free Cloud and Vincent, and then figure out what's supposed to be happening in the story, all without getting ourselves killed?" Grim asked sarcastically.

"You have a better idea?" Xander asked.

"No, not really. Just wanted to make sure I knew what I had no choice of getting myself into." That lightened the mood some.

"Okay, so now that we know what we have to do, how are we going to do it?" Eline asked.

"Well here's my idea," Preston said. "We split up into two groups again, depending on our abilities. So probably Rystan, Grim, Travis, and I, maybe Attlin, will be going into ShinRa somehow. The rest of you will wait somewhere for us to return. Among other small details, that's about it."

"And say the four or five of you get caught, then what?" Kyrton questioned. "Are the rest of us supposed to go in after you?"

"What if I just went in, found Cloud and Vincent, and teleported them out?" Rystan suggested. "It's not like the Turks could catch me."

"Don't get too cocky," Attlin said. "They may be somewhat clumsy, but they're not stupid. They know you can teleport, so they're probably finding ways of stopping that, if they haven't done it already. So if you teleport, you may just teleport yourself into a trap."

"Well then maybe I could provide a distraction to help the rest of the group sneak into the building."

"You can't sacrifice yourself like that," Kyrton told her. "Then we'd have to rescue you too."

"Kyrton's right," Preston said. "You can't risk getting yourself captured just so we can get in."

"But then how else will you get in without being noticed?"

"We'll figure that out now." After an hour of arguing and figuring, they finally decided on a plan to get into the ShinRa building, and get Cloud and Vincent out. So they split up into their groups and left Kalm.

Rystan, Grim, Attlin, and Travis were one group. They reached ShinRa first, and Rystan teleported herself inside Cloud's cell. Once she was in there she saw that Vincent was in another cell, or had been taken out of the cell for another reason.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked her.

"Rescuing you of course. Where's Vincent?"

"He's in a different cell."

"Hold still while I teleport us then." They disappeared from that room and reappeared in a room with Vincent this time.

"Ready to go?" she asked him. He only nodded. She closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She again focused on teleporting back to the others, but still nothing happened. "Hey, what gives! Why can't I teleport?"

"Perhaps it is because you cannot teleport through magnetically intensified, pure iron walls." Rystan turned around to see the speaker. Standing in the doorway was none other than Rufus Shinra himself.

"And how would you know that?"

"Given the samples we had from your previous experiment, we were able to run some tests to determine a weakness."

"Then how was I able to teleport into the building?"

"Did you not hear me say magnetically intensified? Once you were in, we boosted the intensity. That way you could get in but not out."

"Oh, well that's very intelligent of you. But what's to keep me from getting out now, since Cloud and Vincent are with me?"

"That's a simple matter of- excuse me while I take this call. What is it? Yes, I understand. Do what you must." He hung up the phone. "Sorry about that. What was I saying before? Ah yes, what will keep you here. Perhaps it would be easier to show you. Follow me." Rystan wasn't sure what she should do. She could follow Rufus, but that would cut off any possible chance of escape. She decided to try to leave with Cloud and Vincent while Rufus was walking away.

"Let's go," she told them. Cloud nodded, Vincent did nothing.

"Are you coming?" Rufus asked unexpectedly. She could see the gun hanging loosely on his side, and also saw Tseng standing not too far behind Rufus. Rystan knew then that she had no choice but to follow Rufus.

"Even with our weapons we couldn't get away," she heard Vincent whisper to Cloud. So they followed Rufus through the building, until Rystan had to say something.

"Where are you taking us?" she burst out. Rufus continued walking while he answered her.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"What do you want with us?"

"I believe you have information that I need and that is all you need to know."

"But what if we don't have any information?" she persisted.

"Then I'll know soon enough." He led them to another floor of the building where they saw Grim, Attlin, and Travis waiting in the hallway. "I wondered when you three would show up."

"Did you now?" Grim asked sarcastically. "Good for you. Now if you don't mind we'll–"

"Oh, but I do mind," Rufus interrupted Grim. "I think you'll all find what I have inside one of these rooms very intriguing." He opened the door and motioned for us all to go in.

"You think we're just going to walk into a room because you tell us to?" Travis asked.

"I didn't expect you to, no, but it would be in the best interest of the rest of your friends here, who just happen to be inside this room." He smiled and said no more. Grim was the first to walk into the room, causing the rest to do likewise. Waiting inside, just as Rufus had said, were Eline, Preston, Kyrton, and Xander.


	17. Chapter 16

Once the sight of the others strapped down had worn off, Grim rounded on Rufus. Attlin knew what Grim could get like, and he knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

"What are you doing with them!" Grim shouted.

"Nothing that affects you," Rufus told him.

"What do you mean 'nothing that affects me'? Of course this affects me! Those are my friends!"

"There's no need to shout, I can hear you just fine."

"I don't care if you can hear me because you obviously don't understand me! Let them go or you'll have a very big problem with me." Grim was shaking with suppressed rage.

"I think you are underestimating who you are talking to."

"No, I think it is you who is underestimating us." With a flick of the wrist he threw a dagger at Tseng and another at Reno who had just walked in.

"What's going on here?" Reno asked. He dodged Grim's dagger and walked over to Rufus.

"Grim seems to think he has control of this situation." Grim didn't respond. Instead he walked over to the computers in the room, smiled mockingly at Rufus, and thrust a dagger into each one.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rene yelled. He ran at Grim, who grabbed his daggers and vaulted over Reno towards Eline. He quickly unhooked her, and then moved to Preston. Rystan ran to Kyrton, and Attlin to Xander. Once everyone was unhooked, they all turned to face Rufus. They saw Cloud and Vincent holding Reno and Tseng. Rufus stood between everyone, looking from one group back to the other. He finally stopped and faced the group of teenagers.

"You appear to have won this round, but what will you do with your victory?"

"We're going to leave," Preston told him. "Everyone follow me." Rufus watched as they left the room, followed by Cloud and Vincent.

"No," he told Reno and Tseng. "Let them go."

"But –"

"No arguments Reno."

"Yes sir."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thank you," Cloud said after they were all a safe distance from the ShinRa building. "You didn't have to risk yourselves to get us out."

"No, we had to," Xander said. "But now we need to get back to our world." They walked to the area where the portal would hopefully be.

"It's back!" Rystan shouted.

"And hopefully it will take _us_ back," Grim added. "Who's going first?"

"I will," Eline said. She stepped into the portal, and came back a second later. "It works." She stepped through again. The others followed suit, and one by one disappeared into the portal. When they were all together on the other side, they headed in the direction they thought the orphanage would be in. They arrived at the orphanage after a few hours, but stopped before going in.

"Should we just walk in?" Travis asked.

"How long have we been gone?" Preston wondered aloud. "I lost track of the days."

"Only one way to find out." Travis took the lead and walked into the orphanage. They followed him in and saw Wilkan standing in his office, looking at them.

"Where have you eight been?" he asked calmly.

"Uh…" Travis trailed off. They hadn't discussed how they were going to explain their absence.

"Anyone care to explain where you have been for the past two days?" he asked them. No one answered. "No? None of you can tell me what you've all been doing? That's very disappointing, because IT'S YOUR DISAPPEARANCES THAT HAVE CAUSED THE BOARD TO START INVESTIGATING THIS ORPHANAGE! SO ALL OF YOU HAD BETTER TELL ME WHERE YOU RAN OFF TO OR YOU'LL REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER CAME HERE!" They all looked at Wilkan, not sure of what to do. Wilkan stood there fuming, waiting for someone to answer. Grim finally spoke up.

"We ran off and went through a portal to a different world exactly the same as the world in our video game and helped a few people escape from the evil bad guys that are destroying the world."

"And you expect me to believe that Grim?"

"You asked where we went."

"So you come up with some cock and bull story?" Grim shrugged. "I want all of you to go to your rooms, and I'll visit you later. Right now I have to deal with the investigator that's coming." Just as they were heading up the stairs Wilkan spoke again. "And don't think I haven't noticed that Preston is back. But I'll discuss that with you after this investigator leaves." Once they were all upstairs they gathered in Attlin's room instead of separating.

"So what do you think he's going to do?" Travis asked.

"Who knows?" Xander said.

"Wait, whatever happened to Squall?" Rystan asked suddenly. "Do you think he's still up in the attic?"

"He could be," Xander told her.

"Shouldn't we be wondering what Wilkan is doing with that investigator downstairs?" Grim reminded them.

"Who cares what Wilkan is doing," Kyrton said, "so long as he isn't bothering us."

"I still think we should find out if Squall is around," Rystan argued.

"Why are you so worried about him?" Kyrton asked. "Maybe he found his way back to his own world."

"And what if he didn't? What if we get sucked back into that portal and end up in that world until we fix everything like with Cloud and Vincent?"

"We just won't go near the portal."

"So we just let that world fall apart? That doesn't seem fair."

"It's not our fault he got into our world. Why should we risk messing things up even worse?"

"Both of you quit arguing," Preston told them. "We can check the attic to see if Squall's there and if he is we'll know if he's the one in trouble. If not, then we should come right back in case Wilkan comes. Does that work for both of you?" They looked at each other and nodded.

"Would it be better if I stayed behind, in case Wilkan comes?" Attlin asked.

"It's up to you." So Attlin stayed while the rest of them headed to the attic. They found the door open, so they quickly climbed through. Rystan was the first to notice Squall sitting calmly on the floor.

"You see, Squall's just fine," Kyrton said. "Now let's go back to our rooms and wait for Wilkan to finish with the investigator."

"You aren't going to take me to the portal?" Squall asked.

"We can't really go anywhere right now," Preston told him.

"You all can't, but I can," Rystan said. "I can teleport us over there and back before Wilkan knows we've left."

"And what if the portal closes up like last time?" Xander asked her.

"I'm not going to go _through_ the portal. And even if I accidentally did, I'd just teleport myself back here. Cover for me if Wilkan comes up." Then she and Squall disappeared. Everyone climbed out of the attic and went back to Attlin's room. They waited there for a few minutes before Wilkan came up.

"I thought I told you to go to your rooms, not gather in one?" he asked them. "And where's Rystan?"

"She had to go to the bathroom," Eline said. Before Wilkan had a chance to respond, Rystan walked in the door. She smile at him and sat down with everyone else.

"I want all of you in bed, now!" he shouted. They slowly filed out of Attlin's room and into their own. "Preston, you can go back to your home the same way you got here." He escorted Preston to the orphanage entrance. "Where's your car?"

"I don't have one."

"Then I guess you'll be walking home, won't you?" Wilkan smiled as he shut the door. Preston had no choice, so he walked all the way back to his apartment.

In the morning, the group of seven met in the attic to hear what had happened with Rystan and Squall. Rystan told them that after he walked through, the portal sealed itself and she couldn't teleport herself into his world. She told them she thought that the world had sealed itself permanently because Squall was back. Then the conversation turned towards Wilkan. They tried to imagine what he was going to say to them, but no one had any ideas. With nothing more to discuss, they went back to their rooms. Wilkan visited them all separately, so they couldn't talk to each other about their answers. He was frustrated when he heard the same story from every one of them. So he brought them all down to his office and addressed them together.

"I'm not sure how you're doing this, but you've all managed to give me the same story. So now I have to believe that you're telling the truth, or that you came up with this story this morning. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it just yet. I have a board member coming today to inspect this orphanage. If you want this place to remain open, I suggest you make sure this man finds no reason to shut it down. Now get out of my office."

Once the group left his office, they decided that for once they would do exactly what Wilkan told them. They would make sure this inspector found nothing wrong with anything in the orphanage.


	18. Chapter 17

The orphans spread out through the entire orphanage and gave it a thorough cleaning. They washed the windows, cleaned the floors, scrubbed the bathrooms, and put everything in its place, or found a place for the things that had no home. It took them a few hours, but in the end the orphanage looked spotless. Wilkan noticed their work but made no comment. He was too busy worrying about the board member coming.

A car pulled up to the orphanage during mid-afternoon. A man stepped out, carrying a briefcase. The orphans kept tabs on what was going on through the plan they had made. Grim stayed invisible so he could follow Wilkan and the board member around. Xander concentrated on reading Grim's mind and repeating it to everyone gathered in Attlin's room.

"I've heard rumors that this orphanage never met the board's standards of health codes," the board member told Wilkan at the end of the inspection. "I was told the building was in dire need of cleaning and repairs, but from what I've seen today you must have fixed whatever needed fixing. I'm quite satisfied and relieved not to have to relocate all the orphans living here." The man ripped off the piece of paper he'd been writing on throughout the tour. "This is a note pardoning any previous indiscretions. The board will send someone down every year to make sure you continue to meet our standards, but from the looks of things I don't think you'll have any problems. Have a nice day."

The man left and Grim headed back upstairs to join the others.

"Well at least the orphanage won't close," Travis said.

"Yeah, and we won't be split up," Kyrton added.

"So what now?" Eline asked.

"Yeah, we've finished saving the Final Fantasy worlds, the portal's gone, Preston's gone, and we're on summer vacation with nothing to do," Grim summarized.

"Thank you 'Captain Obvious'," Travis said.

"Everyone was thinking it, I was just verbalizing it."

"Ooh, big word. Sure you know what it means?"

Grim and Travis started wrestling to settle their argument, and everyone ignored them while they continued the original conversation.

"So what _do_ we do now?" Rystan asked.

"Anyone up for practicing?" Xander asked them all.

They agreed to head out into the backyard to practice with their weapons. Travis and Grim stopped wrestling and followed them outside. They split off into two groups: Rystan, Eline, and Travis against Xander, Attlin, Grim, and Kyrton. The two groups attacked each other and practiced until the sun went down. Then they headed back inside, discussing how often they would practice for the rest of the summer.

**The End**


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